Multiversing With Kim
by HubbleHugger2011
Summary: After almost losing her BFBF to a world that believes she's just an imaginary character, "It's Only a Cartoon"'s Kim Possible decides to confront her greatest challenge, and prepares to engage…..the Multiverse!   M Rating for safety's sake
1. Chapter 1

One-Liner/Setup: After almost losing her BFBF to a world that believes she's just an imaginary character, "It's Only a Cartoon"'s Kim Possible decides to confront her greatest challenge, and prepares to engage…..the Multiverse!

Prologue:

(Author's Note 1: This is my first fan fiction contribution to the "many worlds" multiverse of . For the prequel to this prologue, please check out "It's Only a Cartoon" by whitem; my thanks again to whitem for letting me use his story as the jumping off point for my own; it is greatly appreciated. I hope you, the reader, will enjoy this first effort of mine, and I look forward to receiving your reviews and/or PMs. As with many others, I must balance my time between FFN and the "real world", but will do my best not to disappoint when I am FFNing…)

(Author's Note 2: It has been said that no military plan survives contact with the enemy; I'd like to opine the more general thought that no plan survives contact with reality. You see, I thought I had it all figured out: a prologue, an epilogue, and six sitches sandwiched neatly between the two. Well, that is so not going to happen, but I still am hopeful that the actual end result will still be entertaining to the reader. Please read on, and see if I'm still right about something…..)

Disclaimer: Kim Possible belongs to Disney; everybody else except the little girl belongs to somebody else. Detailed disclaimers found at end of each chapter…..

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 1:

A Serious Sitch Indeed

Seven days after Ron's return from "Wal-Mart World":

"Kim, I'm not sure about all of this" said Wade warily, as he gently placed the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer on a padded portion of one of his work tables. "We just gave this stuff back to the legal owners after retrieving Ron from that weird world he was thrown into". Wade's facial expression suddenly turned suspicious. "Kim, just how did you manage to get this, anyway?"

Well, Wade, started Kim, beginning to twist her face into the expression more commonly known as a puppy dog pout, I was just really really really nice to the Director when I asked her. And I was really hoping that I could get you to do the same for me…."

"No, you can't", replied Wade, in a tone he hoped was forceful enough to make the point and achieve his goal. "Your puppy dog pout will not win me over this time, Kim. You know, I'm learning how to resist your so–called irresistible expressions and not be coaxed into doing things just by your pleading tones. I'm not just a little kid any more. I'm almost-".

Kim dropped the "pout", and interrupted the young genius before he could finish his declarative statement. "Okay, Wade, I get it. For what's worth, the PDP didn't work with Dr. Director, either; I had to step up to Plan B".

"What-?"began a confused Wade. Just what was plan B?

"Note 'serious' face" began Kim, pointing at herself with her right index finger before continuing with her "please understand this" monologue.

"But Kim, Ron's the one who does the 'serious' face-".

"And I'm doing this because of Ron" replied Kim, calmly. "You see, Wade, I didn't tell you this before now, but after I got Ron back to his own home following his rescue from that horrid other world, I went home and looked up every word you used during your attempts to explain the sitch that we were facing in trying to get him back that I didn't fully understand at the time. And I went on-line and did the research to better understand those theories and complex concepts you kept throwing out at me as we all worked together to save Ron last week. I worked ferociously for over 24 hours non-stop, despite my mom's repeated attempts to get me to take some time outs and her threats about grounding me if I didn't go to sleep "right now", and her saying again and again that I shouldn't be so obsessed about understanding everything you said about so quickly, and that "Rome wasn't built in a day"-.

"Kim-"Wade interrupted, fear growing within him.

But Kim cut him off. "But I didn't let her stop me or slow me down; I didn't let her keep me from doing what I KNEW I had to do. I may have gotten three days of grounding for my efforts, but it was more than worth it. Because NOW I understand fully what you were talking about, AND about what you were trying to spare me during those dark days without Ron…."

"Kim-"Wade began again, his eyes growing wider with every passing moment; he knew what she was about to say, and he would give anything to stop her from saying those words. But he knew it was hopeless, as Kim continued to talk, her voice taking on an increasing intense tone.

"…And now I know that we almost DIDN'T get him back, that he was almost trapped forever in that world and that we were almost separated forever, never to know each other's touch ever again, never to be able to hold each other, talk to each other, never to really be with each other ever again. Wade, do you know what that would have done to me? Can you really feel the pain I feel when I'm afraid that next time you won't be able to pull 'a rabbit out of the hat'? That no matter what you try to do, and no matter how much of that wonderful genius thinking that you always use to solve things when the sitch is really serious, you won't be able to get him back to us again? I won't accept that; I can't accept that. I will, however, do whatever I can do to make sure that whatever happens, I will be able to get Ron back when we need to, and that we can then do it also for anyone else we may lose to that world, or any other world that steals or traps somebody I love or care for! After all, I'm Kim Possible, and I can do anything! And I will never, ever, leave anyone behind! So, do you understand that-Wade,… what's…. wrong?" Kim's green pupil-ed eyes widened as she realized what was wrong.

"Oh! No!" she gasped. "Personal space, personal space!"She sobbed, as she threw herself backwards halfway across Wade's room to distance herself from the young computer genius. She then lashed out at herself as she curled herself into a ball: how could she have been so stupid? She had known that her serious face speech had deeply affected Dr. Director when she talked to her about borrowing the PDVI for Wade to examine, and the director was a full grown adult, very used to experiencing "in your face" situations. She had never considered what such a one on one would do to one as young and as reclusive as her young friend. And, more than just being so intense and direct in her recent speechmaking, Kim had also unconsciously moved both her hands progressively up his arms as she had proceeded to make her points to until they were at his elbows. No wonder Wade's expression had gone from fearful apprehension of Kim's realization regarding the seriousness of Ron's recent dilemma and the threat of future re-occurrences to a shocked and dazed one that reflected the depths that this invasion of privacy had been.

Kim cried uncontrollably, weeping deeply. What had she done to him? How badly had she hurt him? Of course, she had stopped as soon as she realized what she had done, and how far she had crossed over the line, but the damage had already been done. And if her mother had grounded her for days just because she refused to sleep before understanding the words that Wade had spoken to her, what would the punishment be for this? Maybe her mother and her dad would send her, and not Ron, to a black hole! And what would be worse than even that, she would know that she deserved it; indeed, they would be letting her off too lightly! "Oh, Wade, what have I done to you? I'm so sorry….I'm so sorry Wade! I never meant do that to you! Next to Ron, you've been the one I know I can count on to have my back and look what I've done to you! I'm a monster, who doesn't realize what she can do to others without even thinking about it! I don't deserve you as a friend! I don't deserve your help, no matter how much I really, really need it. I am so sorry Wade, so very, very sorry….."

"Kim, it's all right. You win, you've made your point; please don't cry anymore" pleaded Wade, slowly but determinedly making his way across the room to the emotionally distraught red-headed teen.

Kimberly Ann Possible's head popped up, a small smile on her face. "Oh, Wade, you're, you're all right!"

Then, her face darkened, and the small smile vanished. "No Wade, I haven't won, not in the least. I've lost, lost big time, Wade; I've lost it all. You see, you're only conceding to me right now because I shell-shocked you into a near catatonic state by invading your personal space; getting too close up to you, violating your trust of me, betraying you like I've never done before. Wade, I am so very very sorry about what I just did. I did not really mean to do that to you, but I did, and I am so sorry that I hurt you. I get so angry when I see the monsters on TV who hurt or abuse children or young people in any way, and now I realize that I have become one of them. I just hope someday, somehow, you can find it in your heart to forgive me for what I did to you today….."Kim's voice trailed off into total silence.

"No, Kim, I am really OK, and you should stop punishing yourself about it. I will admit that you were a bit intense; truly an example of your Kimness to the Nth degree, but you didn't really hurt me or shock me as badly as you thought you did. What you did do is that you helped me to finally understand about you and Ron: how strongly and intense your feelings are for him. It's probably the only way you could've made me realize what Ron means to you: that he is far more than just a best friend, and far more than just a boyfriend. In fact, even though I am still too young to really appreciate girls, I think that I know now understand a little about how nice it might be to have someone care for me as much as you care for Ron. I do finally understand how much you need me to try to do this for you."

"Wade….", Kim started calmly, but Wade interrupted her.

But, Kim, I do want you to understand something else. I am not Ron, and will never be that way with you, but I do really like you very much and I don't want to lose you either. That's why I expressed resistance to your idea initially: I'm very afraid that I'll put you somewhere that I can't get you back from…and if that ever happened to you, how do you think I would feel? How could I ever face your parents, face Ron, face any of your classmates, or face anyone else in the world, ever? I don't ever want to let you down after all that you have done for me: you trusted me to run your website, support your missions, build your special gear for you, and be there for you even though I never leave this room. You treated me like a real person, when everyone else just treated me like a little kid. Kimberly Anne Possible, I owe you so much that I can never repay even a small portion of what I should do for you in return for what you've done so many others all over the world, but I will do everything that I can make sure that you are always here to save the world, even as I work on making sure that we will find a way to get back all of those people we might lose to other worlds, and keep anyone from having to go through what you almost had to go through. Do you understand, Kim?"

"Yes, Wade, I do" Kim answered calmly. "And, after we do this, and confirm that we can rescue all the people that might be lost in those other worlds, I'll turn myself in to your mom and my mom and let them deal with me for what I did to you tonight; no matter how severe the punishment is or how lengthy the grounding will be, I know that I will more than deserve whatever I am handed."

"No, Kim, you will not", said Wade sternly. "In fact," Wade continued, sounding almost like Mr. Barkin, "we will not speak of this incident to anyone, ever. Not to my mom, nor to yours. Kim, I know about those monsters on TV, and what they do to children is horrid, to say the least. But I also know that they rarely if ever realize that they have done wrong, and even more rarely do they accept responsibility for those actions. Kim, by nearly throwing yourself into my equipment after you realized that you had crossed a line, and by berating yourself far more severely than most people ever would have, you already addressed the most important part of handling this incident. In fact, am I right in assuming that in your own mind, the good you has already severely thrashed the over the line you until the latter is practically comatose, mentally speaking, at least?"

"Yes, Wade, but—", started Kim, still thinking that she was being let off far too easily.

"But nothing, Kim, interrupted Wade, "that sitch is done and over with, and we will hear no more about black holes or anything more about your mother or my mother punishing you for something you and I have already dealt with and moved on from."

"Are you really sure about that, Wade?" questioned Kim. "I mean, what if you have a delayed reaction to all this? I don't want you to be permanently affected by what I did tonight, and whatever happens to me is not important as long as we make sure that you are helped to overcome this without any long-term scars. After all, as you said not too long ago, you hoped that someday a girl would care for you as much as I cared for Ron and I don't want you or her to suffer in any way in your relationship because of something another girl did to you some time before, especially if that girl was me. I really feel that you're letting me off far too gently in this particular sitch."

"No, Kim, I'm not" replied Wade. "I am going to lay down some guidelines as we move forward from here, and you will follow them without debate or complaint. I am going to set some rules, and you will obey them. I will be in charge of this mission sitch, and I will have the final say in this effort. Do you understand me, and will you comply?"

"Yes, Wade," agreed Kim, with her voice so low and calm that Wade began to fear that she had gone into a version of shell-shock herself. "I will obey all your directions without complaint or dissension or anything that would keep you from being in charge of this sitch. You are the mission leader, and I am the side kick or junior partner. I will do my best to not let you down, mission leader; just tell me what to do and how am I can help."

"Kim, are you OK"? Wade asked nervously. "I have never seen you act so submissively to anybody, and I don't want to hurt you in any sort of permanent fashion, either. You being so quiet so suddenly has me a little worried; I'm very sorry if I over did the leadership part, and if I crossed over any line myself, please let me know; I'm never want to hurt you either, ever, for any reason."

"No, Wade," started Kim, quietly. "You haven't crossed any lines, and I'm really OK. It's just that I am still so very thankful that I hadn't hurt you as badly as I feared I had, and that you are still considering helping me out with this challenge. I am really, really thankful for you, Wade and what you've done in the past and probably will continue to do for Team Possible in the future. And I trust you not to abuse me as I abus-…."

"Remember, Kim, we're past that now, OK?"

"Yes, Wade, whatever you say…it's time we move on…"conceded Kim, quietly and calmly, but with just enough "Kimness" and firm "affirmative" tonalities to avoid retriggering Wade's concerns about her. She was now carefully and consciously walking an incredibly thin tightrope between the extreme calmness that her chagrined self was forcing on the "girl of action" self to prevent a reoccurrence of the intense exchange that had also, but not quite, shattered, a bond of trust that, once broken, would not have been easily or quickly repaired or rebuilt, and the extreme "I CAN do anything" intensity that had, in the past, often enabled the red-haired teenager to overcome any challenge faced in the field by simply refusing to acknowledge the apparent impossibility of overcoming said challenge, and then proceeding to solve the sitch and "save the world". That "balancer" self/facet of Kimberly Anne Possible was putting out a "110%" effort to avoid toppling off that near-invisible thread of equilibrium in either direction, even as it was also silently sending out a continuous stream of thanks to Whomever might be listening for saving a sitch that she had almost accepted as unsolvable and lost forever. That "self" also realized that though it somehow had been given a "second chance", it would not be receiving a "third"; there could be no more mistakes going forward. She had to do this correctly, with no more slip up's on her part.

"So, Wade, how do we handle this sitch?" continued Kim, her balancer firmly in charge of her verbiage and her other two selves (or at least the balance between them). "…What are the guidelines, and what are the rules? How shall we deal with the challenges and how will we move forward to success?"

Then, Kim stopped, placed a quiet smile on her face, and waiting for Wade to reply.

The quiet moment lingered, and then stretched out until it threatened to dominate everything else in the room. Finally, Wade replied.

"First off, I don't send you out there until we are sure that we are totally good and ready to go on the mission. And there is no questioning me on this one thing: if I finally decide that this sitch is impossible to solve or resolve, then this whole mission sitch is over. And, Kim, there will be no argument about that item. Kim, do you understand and agree to this first condition?"

"Yes, Wade, I do. This one time you're the mission master, the team leader and the partner in charge of the whole mission sitch. If you decide that this effort cannot be successfully performed, you will order a mission abort, and close the entire operation down, permanently. And, I am not to argue with your decision, no matter how I feel about doing so." Both of the non-balancer selves cried out within her: "No, No, No, don't agree to that! Never ever….!" But the balancer paused for just a moment then continued.

"But, Wade, if I was to respectfully, and I stress the word respectfully, request illumination of why you have concluded that the effort cannot be successfully performed, would you do your best to explain it to me so that I can understand it and move on? And, if while you were explaining it to me, and I was quietly and respectfully listening to you, you determined that it might still be possible to accomplish the mission in another way, would you at least consider changing the mission abort decision and resuming the effort, still, of course, under your control as mission leader? That is, could you at least consider, or rather reconsider, your original decision if you, and not me, realized that you may have reached a premature conclusion on the matter?" The balancer paused again for a fraction of a heartbeat, then resumed.

"Or, Wade, would you consider even this respectful request for an explanation in order to aid my understanding of the mission abort decision process a violation of my agreement in this regard? You see, I don't want to even accidentally mess up this agreement with you, even in the slightest regard, and I want to fully understand what I am agreeing to in this sitch… I really do want to do things right this time; no puppy dog pout, no serious face, just a "go team go" unity of purpose. After all, when it all comes down to it, you and I are on the same team, right, Wade?"

"Yes, we are, Kim," answered Wade, "and I will do my best to explain why I'm closing the operation down for good. And I will do my best to permit myself to rethink the decision if I realize that I've made an error in my reasoning process in that regard. But, please don't press the point too hard, and risk slipping into an argument or debating mode; OK?"

"OK, Wade, I agree." The balancer smiled again, inside, and then continued. "And what is the second point?"

"The second point is that we're not going to be on a schedule, or rather, more importantly, we will not be driven by a schedule. We will take as long as it needs to be done with any one of our many things we have to do, and we will not take shortcuts….."

"Agreed, no shortcuts, not driven by a schedule; after all, better safe than sorry, right, Wade?"

"Right, Kim", confirmed Wade."And don't even think of trying to get around me on those issues, either."

"No way, Wade", acknowledged Kim, her balancer self enjoying itself more and more, with the other two selves becoming more and more confused: were they winning or losing this discussion?

"OK, Kim; now on to point number three….."

********30 minutes later*******

"OK Kim, I guess that's about it. I will not let you go on any journey unless I'm really sure I can get you back. When you do travel on to the next sitch, you'll do so by returning home first, then jumping to the next sitch from our home base here in my room. And anytime I don't feel comfortable with how things are going, I reserve the right to stop the whole thing, even in the midst of the sitch, and I will hit the automatic retrieval button to get you home safe and sound. And I will do it no matter how angry that makes you with me, I would rather have you angry with me and what I did and have you in one piece that have you in pieces in some other world just because I did not want you to be angry with me for retrieving you too soon. Besides Kim, you know our world depends on you to save it from people like Drakken and Shego almost every day of the week. What will happen to this world if something happens to you? And if worse comes to worse, and everything else fails, I will do everything I can to bring you home for your final rest; at least we'll have your body here in our universe, not lost somewhere out there in the darkness of other possible realities."

" OK, Wade" agreed Kim, "We will do it your way, all the way, from start to finish, no excuses, no arguments, no ifs ands or buts. I will not go into my first sitch until you give the green light. I will not proceed on to the next sitch without returning here first and getting a go-ahead from you to continue to the next sitch. And if you do call a timeout or an end of game, there will be no debate at all from the cheerleading section."Kim then paused, and briefly waited for Wade to respond. When he did not, Kim continued.

"And when we successfully complete the last sitch, and I return home to your room here, I will take the multiversal communicator and translation device and put it up there on your storage shelf, and I will never, ever, use it again unless we lose Ron or someone else in another universe. And as we put that device into storage, we will both hope and pray that we will never have to use it again, because we would realize that no matter how well we understand or think we understand how everything works in this whole multiverse sitch, there will never be an absolute guarantee that all would work out as we would wish." Kim paused for one last time, then resumed her summary and conclusions.

"So, mission leader, do I understand the sitch as it is, or don't I?"

You do, junior partner, you do indeed, agreed Wade, convinced that he finally had Kim where he wanted her to be, completely unaware that this was exactly what Kim wanted him to think.

"OK, so what do we do first, sir?" Kim asked sincerely, with obvious interest, being extremely careful not to give him any cause for any overt concern or suspicion.

"Well, to start off, you go to your home, or go out on a Naco run with Ron and Rufus, and let me begin some very intense and serious thinking about this PDVI and what I need to do with it to help us get where we want to be in this multiversal sitch. OK, Kim?"

"Can…" Kim started, then paused for a second before resuming, "Can I help you… a little... before I go?" Kim asked, being extremely careful not to press the point too much at this early stage of this new teamed effort.

"Not now, junior partner; right now, I just need a little quiet time with myself and this; I will, however, probably need some help later, so you better get rested up for some intense study sessions involving Multiversing 101 and related subjects of interest. But, for now, Kim, just allow me some "me" time so that I can get us off to a good start. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes, Wade, I'll get going, and let you get to work, AFTER you take a breather from this little meeting here. After all, you deserve a little break before getting into this study, don't you?" Kim paused for a moment, but then continued without waiting for Wade's response to a second question. "By the way, will it be OK if I check which you in about a week if I don't hear from you before then about this? Obviously, I will not ask you anything about it during any of our normal mission sitches, no matter what, but I would like to be able to check with you at least once a week about our special project, apart from your normal support of our regular missions and such, that is. Is that good with you, Wade?"

"Yes, Kim, a week, if I don't call you sooner. You just leave it to me." Wade replied, increasingly confident that he had the sitch with teammate well in hand.

"Okay Wade, I'll see you then, if not before". Kim stood up to leave, walked to the door, then halted in the doorway, and turned to face the young man. "Thanks, Wade; thank you …for… everything. I...do… really… appreciate… it, very much. And I will not forget you giving me a second chance on moving us forward like this".

As the red-haired girl vanished through the doorway of his room, the computer genius gazed intently at the pan dimensional vortex inducer, and began to seriously think of what he could possibly do with it that would satisfy a very intense young lady's current deepest wishes….


	2. Chapter 2

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 2:

How Hard Could It Really Be?

Fourteen Days After Ron's Return:

"What was I thinking of?", exclaimed an extremely upset computer genius. "What made me ever think that I could do anything worthwhile with this? What indeed was I thinking, or was I even thinking at all?"

"What's the sitch, Wade?" asked a somewhat confused Kimberly Anne Possible, who had just sat down on the floor near Wade's computer desk, and was expecting a somewhat less intense version of a weekly status report regarding any progress made in the multiverse mission sitch her young genius friend was working on. Did I arrive here too soon? I thought you said I should be here at about-".

"No, it's not you, it's me it's me it's me!" Wade confessed, slowly beginning to sound much like a broken record.

"Okay Wade it's you, not me", affirmed Kim, her balancer self working overtime already. "But, just what is it about you?"

"Well, 'junior partner', it's about me not understanding as much as you did when we had our first talk last week about your concerns for Ron, and why we had to get into a multiverse mission sitch, like the one we're in now."

"What…What do you mean, Wade?"Kim asked cautiously, not quite sure what she understood better than her super IQ'd partner.

"What I mean is that you understood a whole lot better than I did last week about the dangers facing us if we were ever to lose Ron again, and then if we had to try to mount another rescue mission to that Wal-Mart world or one even more bizarre than that bizarre enough one. In fact, Kim, we almost didn't get him back last time." Wade paused, not really relishing what he was about to confess to, but also realizing that he had no choice in the matter; Kim deserved nothing less than the harsh truth, no matter what. "In actual fact, your fears about my genius not being enough the NEXT time were actually realized the LAST time!"

"What do you mean, Wade? Now I don't understand…"Kim was thoroughly confused; she and Wade had succeeded and they had gotten Ron home safe and sound, although it had been a close one indeed!

Wade continued, very reluctantly indeed. "What I am trying to say, however badly, is that last time we didn't really get Ron back the way I had planned; you see, there was not enough convergence in the convergence field that I had setup to get him home, and back to our reality. The truth of the matter is Kim, that I failed you, big time!"

"What are you saying Wade? I've gone out with Ron on six dates since then; don't tell me I've been dating a hallucination for two weeks? That all my time with him since then has been solely in my imagination?" Kimberly's balancer self was about to go off the track itself as it tried to figure out at what point the conversation had taken a turn into the "Twilight Zone", or, indeed, whether it had ever been out of that zone since Ron's disappearance into "Wal-Mart World".

"No, Kim, No!" reassured Wade firmly, very certain that he did not want to 'lose her' that way, either. "That's not at all what I meant; Kim, you are totally sane, and our Ron is indeed back with us." Wade then took a deep breath, and held it for several seconds; he did not really want to say it, but the truth needed to be told, and he had to do it right. "But I didn't do it myself with my genius solutions; you did it. You see, Kim, you, and you alone, are why we have Ron with us now. You are the reason we got Ron back safe and sound, not me, and not my so called genius solution. You, and you alone, my dear 'junior partner', are the only reason we didn't have the tragedy that you feared would happen the NEXT time around".

"But, Wade, what did I do other than follow your instructions like you told me to do?"Kim was becoming increasingly confused. Had she somehow disobeyed the instructions he'd given her back then during the rescue Ron sitch without meaning to?

"Kim," began Wade, gently. "Do you remember a slight pull on you when you reached out of our world into Ron's new world?" Inquired Wade, very cautiously, with a trace of fear creeping into his voice. How would the red headed teenager react when she heard the story behind the story she thought she already knew?

"Yes, Wade, I do," affirmed the only slightly more calmed teenager. She wasn't crazy, Ron was really home, and she had not been fantasizing the past two weeks! But, then, why was she feeling as if she should be feeling some sort of fear? What was her young friend trying to get at with this conversation? "But, actually, Wade, it was much more than a slight pull; I actually had to put a lot of myself into stretching those extra inches to make contact with him. It was almost like trying to support our cheerleader pyramid level of effort, but I did do it!"

"That's just it! You see, Kim, you weren't supposed to be able to stretch those extra few inches. My convergence field wasn't actually properly tuned to allow you to do that; it was actually fighting you all along the time you were trying to reach him. You were supposed to have failed to reach Ron then and we're supposed to have lost Ron FOREVER two weeks ago! All that crying you did as you imagined that horrible NEXT time was actually supposed to have happened that LAST time; you were supposed to be intensely hating me for the past two weeks, never ever forgiving me for letting you down in such an unfair manner." Wade stopped, and hung his head down, nearly weeping with deep emotion over his admission of utter failure.

"But, Wade, I did it; I got my boyfriend, and I got him back here with us, safe and sound, and really ready for a round of nacos, Grande sized!….

"Yes, Kim, you did indeed do the impossible! You see, your Kimness, your great love for Ron and your intense emotional ties with him, as well as your constant, almost arrogant, disregard for what others accept as undoable, allowed you to bridge the gap between my totally inadequate and failed solution that would have left Ron trapped in that strange world that you now hate and fear so much, and instead, bring him safely home to us all." Wade appeared as if he was about to break down and cry uncontrollably. He paused for several moments, then continued with a strange, almost emotionless tone of voice.

"But that impossible action that saved Ron almost doomed you; we almost lost YOU that time, Kim."

"What?" Exclaimed Kim, taken aback not by so much what he had said, but by the sinking sensation that somehow he was absolutely correct in his statement regarding the near double tragedy. That horrible world had almost claimed her as well!

"By extending yourself beyond the safe parameters of my inadequate convergence field to reach Ron and bring him home, you almost trapped yourself in that world. And, worse yet, you would not have been trapped in the same form that Ron was trapped; it would be more like a two dimensional poster of yourself, unable to move, talk, or probably even think. Ron might have even thought it was cute that his favorite cartoon character was now available as a full size poster, and he would have taken you home to his apartment and never know that you were trapped in that form. And I would've lost both you and him, and then have to explain to your family and his that you and he would never be coming home again."

Kim sat speechless, totally stunned by Wade's shocking confession. Her balancer self then re-established control, and moved the conversation forward, carefully. She remembered all too well what she had told herself last week, during their first mission sitch conversation, that there would be no third chances in this game of heading off future dimensional crises.

"But I didn't lose myself there, and I got myself and Ron home, safe and sound. Successful end of sitch, right?"Kim asked, quietly, unwilling to risk triggering another emotional outburst from Wade, who seemed to be ready to beat himself up more than she had almost done a week before after the "personal space" issue. "And now, that you know about that convergence field thing, you can adjust things better and take care of that next time; after all that's what this mission sitch is-".

Wade cut her off. "I don't know if I can do it; I'm so sorry, Kim, but this whole crazy situation is ferociously more complicated than I thought last week, when I was already trying to do everything I could to talk you out of doing it." Wade then paused once again, preparing himself for another confession. "And on top of all that, I feel very very very bad about having lied to you, and misleading you the way I did-"

Now Kim cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "No, Wade, you did not lie about us rescuing Ron; you were just mistaken about some of your explanations until you realized the full depth of our near miss with him, and then you brought me up to speed, right? So not the drama!"

"No, Kim, it wasn't that I lied about; it was about the puppy dog pout not affecting me last week, just before you went to plan B and….."

"What do you mean, Wade?" I'm not sure I understand; after all, you've already said that we don't have to talk about my….mistake…anymore here, and that we should move on…."

"No Kim, you don't understand; you were winning me over before you ever went to plan B. You see, I lied about the puppy dog pout, and how it was affecting me".

"I….What…?" A confused redhead pondered, all three of her selves in equal disarray over the new revelation from her mission leader. Wade lied about my puppy dog pout? Why?

"You see, Kim", Wade continued, morosely, your PDP was indeed breaking down all my defenses, and you almost had me eating out of your hand, just like you sometimes have your rents and others do in so many things. And I knew I could never get you to stop doing it just by telling you do it. So I misled you into thinking it wasn't working on me, so that you would stop doing it on your own, and I could regain control over myself in the conversation we were having". Wade stopped speaking, sighed deeply, and then continued.

"You see , Kim, I thought that it was the only way I could stop you from putting me into total agreement with you without even mustering a token amount of resistance. I am so sorry, Kim, that I lied to you about the puppy dog pout's effect on me; especially since it then forced you to go to that plan B, which wound up hurting both of us more than we would have wanted it to. You have always trusted me to be truthful with you; I broke that trust with you before you ever did it with me. I….."

"No, Wade", interrupted Kim, her balancer self once again taking full charge, and loving it. You are a very young man, who no one can expect to act as maturely as a supposedly more mature teenager, like I'm supposed to be….like what I would….like to be. You may have lied and misled me to have me abandon my formerly ultimate weapon of the puppy dog pout, but that does not excuse me from any of my misjudgments and incorrect actions that occurred after that really cunning trickery by you." Smiling, if Kim paused for a moment, then continued.

"Besides, Wade, as you said last week, we both have to move beyond what almost happened, being thankful that it did not, and get our heads in the game about solving this multiverse sitch. After all, you are the mission commander, and we can't get this done without you being in charge, right?"

"But, Kim, can you really trust a mission leader that lied to you?"

"Well, technically, Wade, you weren't mission leader when you tricked me into stopping my puppy dog pout face trick. So, actually-"

"You know what I mean, Kim-"

"Yes I do, Wade, but again, the current circumstances mandate that we must do what we can to move forward and get this sitch solved as best we can with our available resources, human and otherwise…." Kim paused yet again, deeply thought for a moment, then continued calmly on ward. "So, let's both agree, that, from here on out, they'll be no more lying by either mission leader or his junior partner, and we'll do our honest best to solve the mission objective if at all possible, OK? We'll do it together, as a really terrific team, but one that is, sadly, all too human; we will simply have to deal with it, right?"

"OK, Kim", agreed Wade reluctantly. "I guess that that will work; I certainly don't have any better ideas about that at this time".

"Good "concluded Kim, also in agreement. "So, now, Wade, what do we have to do to work that issue successfully?"

"I don't know", started Wade, sadly. "My initial studies seem to indicate that there are so many alternate universes or multiverses that I don't know if I can resolve the individual ones well enough to keep you a safe passage sitch to either one or the other. If we're not careful, you might even be split between more than one of the separate universes or alternate realities and I don't think that we, or they, would be happy with the end result. You know, when we were treating the alternate universes as if they were just cable channels, we were both more right and more wrong than we thought. But the problem facing us is as if we had a cable system of infinite or near infinite channels: how can we select just one channel, so to speak, without the others bleeding through or jamming our signal? "

"OK, Wade, concern noted", responded Kim, calmly considering her next words. "So, would increasing our resolver strength on the discriminator circuit help us in that regard, and pull out the one we want from the surrounding near-misses?"

"Increase resolver strength?" Said a pleasantly surprised Wade; it sounded like a valid concept to consider more deeply, later on. "What made you say that idea, Kim?"

"Well, didn't you once suggest during a mission some time back that I increase my Kimmunicator signal strength and resolver power when I was trying to scan for something that was very difficult to view with the sensors at maximum strength? You know Wade, I'm certainly not as technical as you are in so many specialized ways, and you and Felix and Ron are so much more into video games and stuff like that, but I'm not quite as much of a slouch in those departments as I sometimes appear to be to those of you who are really into such things, and I do listen to what you say and do, and at least some of it tends to rub off on me, eventually. And besides, I do have a real incentive now to try to understand better what we're doing and trying to do. After all, I'm not really too much into smashing zombies, maiming mummies, vanquishing vampires, or other such video fun, but I'm really into figuring out how to save Ron, and how to keep him with me here in our reality."Kim paused to take a deep breath before resuming. "So, do you really think it's a possible sitch solver?" Both Kim and Wade completely ignored her apparently unintended attempt at humor by using her family name in conjunction with resolution of the issue before the team, both were apparently intent on avoiding any and all distracting influences on either of the two partners involved in the ongoing effort.

"Well, we'll certainly give it a shot and see what comes of it, Kim. After all, once again, you keep proving to me you're not just an average girl, no matter what you say otherwise." Wade acknowledged, as a wide smile displayed itself on his face. "We'll see what we can do to move us forward; we are not licked yet!"

"That's excellent Wade, said Kim, her balancer congratulating itself on somehow avoiding another showstopper, in keeping the keep Ron safe effort alive, and in keeping her dear young friend from beating himself up too much. And now, for a tiny dollop of well deserved praise and encouragement: "You know, you really do rock big time, Wade, and I am so very thankful that you haven't given up on me or on this whole Ron thing. I just know that you'll get us through this, no matter what, as long as both of us remain calm and work together…"

21 Days After Ron Returns:

"Kim, what are you doing?" asked Wade as he entered his computer room, and finding the redheaded teen busily typing in numbers and letters into a secondary entry terminal several feet away from his main keyboard console area.

Kim paused in her effort, and turned to see the concerned computer genius approaching her from the side. Holding back for a moment to make sure that she had her thoughts promptly arranged, she answered calmly with almost no trace of emotion in her voice.

"Well, Wade, your mom told me to wait in here for you, and that you would be joining me shortly after finishing up your shower activity. And when I came in here, I saw this stack of datasheets and your little note about getting them all in before we could move forward with some checkout activities on those discriminator circuits and those pesky convergence compensators."Kim smirked as she paused for a moment before continuing her statement. "So, I decided to put my mad texting skills to good use and get some of these into the system and save you some typing time later on. And don't worry, Wade, I'm being really careful to make sure that I get them in right; after all, I do now FULLY understand what would happen if I deconverged at the wrong time and place."

The young boy's face had begun to turn a slightly darker shade as his embarrassment rose regarding his mother mentioning his shower activities, especially as they were repeated by his "junior partner", but he quickly forgot all about that as he struggled to deal with the calm but earnest teenager in front of him.

"But Kim, you are not a typist, and you're not a temporary employee working for me. I did not call you here to listen to a status report on my effort and instead have you do menial data entry for me!" Wade said, exasperated.

"So not the drama, Wade", responded Kim, merrily, resuming her typing activity. "After all, I'm just doing what every other junior partner does with the mission leader; doesn't Ferret Girl help out the Fearless Ferret in the Ferret Cave by entering clues and other information into the ferociously fantastic Ferret Computer? After all, crime doesn't fight itself, and this sitch isn't going to solve itself, and I'm not going to have you wear yourself out over this whole thing without me helping out at least a little bit."

"And when have you started watching the Fearless Ferret, Kim? You know, you don't even like the show, and you even turned down dressing up like the Ferret Girl with that Timothy North actor! "

"That's because that was a "make believe" adventure, and I'm into real life adventures. But Wade, there are some lessons and examples from even those make believe shows that play into real life concerns. And this whole mission sitch is a real life concern issue, so I'm not just acting out a role but I'm doing my best to help out our team for real this time. Besides, I have told you before that I have an incentive that I didn't have back then…"

"You mean Ron, right?" Inquired Wade, knowing full well that was exactly who she meant.

"Yes, I mean Ron, you funny boy" chuckled Kim, smiling as she concluded her entry activity. "There, all done! Now, all you have to do is double check me on my entries, hit the verified key and you have your compensator array values all ready to go! And now I think I've actually earned my status report update! So, what's the sitch now, Wade, and what can I do next to help out?"

"Well, Kim, we have made some progress since last week, but we're still not there quite yet." Wade paused to look over Kim's entries, and pressed the verified key to complete the process before continuing speaking to the auburn headed temporary typist. "And, I have to admit, I could use a little data entry help today. Are you really sure that you don't mind just typing this stuff into the system?"

"Not at all, Wade, not at all" confirmed Kim, pleased that she made the right choice when she saw the stack of paper and the little note on it. She was certain that the more she did help to Wade work through this now, the less likely he would be to call off the whole thing before she got her chance to check out six different universes, including the one that she almost lost Ron to for good. Of course, she knew that there were no guarantees in this effort, and she would have to be very very careful to avoid a potential tragedy or disaster, even now. But, every bullet dodged was a step in the right direction, and Kim was more determined to keep dodging those bullets until mission success was hers. And all she had to do was to firmly control her Kimness until it was truly needed in a sitch…..

****To Be Continued****

Kim Possible © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

The Twilight Zone™ © CBS, Inc. (created by Rod Serling)

"


	3. Chapter 3

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 3:

The Final Countdown to M-Day

28 Days After Ron Returns:

"OK, Kim, what are you up to this time?" asked Wade, as he re-entered the room after having talked to his mom about some questions she said she had about Wade's activities with Kim during the past three weeks.

"Oh, not much, just doing some surfing of the 'multiversal cable channel cable box' while you were chatting with your mom. By the way, I think I agree with some of your mom's concerns, and I think we should call this an early night after you give me a status update on our effort" Kim suggested, as she continued to view several alternate universes through a high definition video display, moving her viewer's joystick up and to the right to focus on one somewhat interesting element of another reality.

"Uh, Kim, what's going on there?" asked Wade, pointing to the edge of the screen.

"Oh, Wade, that's something the fan fiction writers call 'KIGO'" Kim answered cautiously, wondering how much she should reveal about this particular term, and the reality behind it. She also wondered if it was time to share some of her thoughts regarding cablevision channels and multi dimensional alternate realities, and how it played into their current situation. She couldn't shield him from everything, but she had to be very careful, indeed; her balancer self continued to remind her other selves that "there would be no third chances" in this sitch.

"What does that mean Kim," asked a very curious Wade, glancing at the image of the far right end of the screen. "It looks like you and Shego are being very friendly; you two don't seem to be fighting at all"

Well Wade that is what KIGO means: that in some other alternate universe, another me and another Shego are not enemies, but are very very very good friends

"How good , Kim?" inquired Wade, uncertain how this conversation was going, but noting she had just used the word "very" three times in a row.

"About as good as me and Ron, AFTER we danced following our defeat of Drakken and Shego and the Diablo robots." Kim calmly answered.

Wade's eyes widened, as Kim's words sunk in, and the full import of what she had said hit him.

"Noooooh!" gasped Wade, his skin darkening with even greater embarrassment than the shower comment had affected him a week before.

"TMI?"asked Kim quickly, this time knowing what the answer would be, but ready to use it as a stepping off point to maneuver the conversation in the direction she desired., and far away from a possible "personal space" level complication that seemed to be pending.

"Yes, very much so."replied a flustered Wade, momentarily wishing that they were both back at the "personal space" issue; he thought it would take longer to accommodate and deal with this new concept, or least get over it and move on than it did with that first issue that he thought he had handled fairly well.

"OK, I will say no more, and we'll move on", replied Kim in a light-hearted manner, her balancer self really earning her keep this early in the session. "Besides, I wanted to say a few words about my thoughts on the question regarding the possible relationship between fan fiction writing on the internet", her hand indicating the left and of the screen," and the alternate reality that it seems to be associated with "continued Kim, indicating the right hand side of the screen.

"What do you mean, Kim?", asked Wade, this time very cautiously, still trying to separate the KIGO-Kim imagery from the non- KIGO one with him, and trying hard not think of what that reality's Wade would be like.

"Well, started" Kim, being ultra cautious herself, "does the fan fiction writer actually create the alternate reality from just 'marks on paper' or is it the other way around?"

"The other way around? Could you expand on that a little?" said Wade, encouraging his teammate to proceed with her possibly interesting take on the topic.

"Sure thing, Wade" replied the now very thoughtful red-headed teen. "When Ron, Rufus, Drakken, Shego and I got pulled into the so-called cable channel universe and were surfing between channels until you finally retrieved Ron, Rufus, and me, there was one sitch that I was on, that sci-fi—". Kim grimaced, and quickly corrected herself. "—that science fiction masterpiece with the starship and me in a redshirt-"

Wade interrupted her. "The term 'masterpiece' is a bit over the top, but nice attempt for a save on your 'sci-fi' slip. I appreciate the effort to be more sensitive to feelings of SF viewers, including myself. Anyway, Kim, please continue."

"Right, Wade" acknowledged Kim, cheerfully. "Well, anyway, since I appeared in the middle of a 'popular to some' TV program, one would think that there would be a lot of internet chatter on my surprising 'guest appearance' on a rerun of the classic episode; my unintentional 'invasion' could not have gone unnoticed, could it?" finished Kim, her right eyebrow raised.

"I don't know" replied Wade, "I'm afraid that I never thought to check on that. Kim would you give me 2 or 3 minutes to start a search?"

"Of course; so not an issue", answered a smiling Kim. "Whatever the results of that search turn out to be, I'm sure it will help to add useful information to the conversation on this topic, and that's why I thought I'd bring it up with you tonight. I might be pushing the point a bit, but it may even be of some use in our multiverse mission sitch, somehow…."Kim voice trailed off, as Wade quickly moved over to the "Wade only" portion of his computer room. The teenager assumed an "I will be patient" expression as the young genius dived back into his natural environment, but she actually was enjoying the momentary break in the conversation, and she was happy that Wade hadn't been too upset with her slip-up on science fiction terminology used by all true aficionados. Things were going well, at least so far, this evening. If only she could keep avoiding all those potential sitch stoppers that threatened her successful completion of her end objective….

True to form, Wade's "2-to-3-minutes" actually wound up to "under a minute". Just as Kim easily maneuvered through physical spaces without any apparent real effort, so too did Wade effortlessly pirouette through cyberspace, and he was soon heading back to the "visitor's section" of his usually hermit-like inner sanctum.

"It'll beep if it gets any hits on my search terms; I'll head back to see what it caught after 4 or 5 hits" Wade spoke as he sat down with Kim. "Of course, if there are no beeps…." His voice trailed off.

"Then it might support my current line of thought: that I wasn't sent to a cable channel showing of the rerun episode, but to a real-life version of what everyone, including you, thought was just a cable show based on the imaginative writings of one or more science fiction show writers."Kim paused, looked directly at Wade, and then continued her thoughts. "Somehow, the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer, incorrectly hooked up to Drakken's cable equipment, linked the cable channel show with the reality, or rather the alternate reality, of the universe that inspired the show. Wade, it's almost as if the cable channel formed some sort of targeting mechanism for the reality that I found myself in, in a redshirt, no less "Kim finished the statement with a smirk.

"Wait a minute, Kim," started Wade, "you mean to say that there might be a universe where the Fearless Ferret is real?"

"Yes I do mean to say that, although I have to admit that Ron mentioning he was in the title sequence opening of the show may bring that one into question; in that one case, he may have actually been briefly in the actual cable system, although that in itself doesn't invalidate the general theory. We may wish to do another search for Ron and Fearless Ferret after we let your current search effort complete, and see if we get a hit on that combination."

"There's no need to wait; I can start a second search right now," responded Wade, moving quickly over to the keyboard without checking with Kim like he had before. Kim said nothing, just closed her eyes and smiled a little smile. "Say, Wade", she started, "if it doesn't overload your search system, how about starting a search for Shego and Pals? Even if nobody noticed me on the program beyond me being just another red haired actress in a red shirt who was about to get killed in space, my arch nemesis should have shown up like a sore thumb on everyone else's radar screens on that show. After all, you know as well as I do that Shego doesn't play well with others, and that should really have jarred all the viewers of that show, with at least one of the characters acting so out of character."

"OK, Kim," Wade answered, "I'm on it. And you're right; most people don't appreciate a lot of science fiction, but those silly shows sure do attract a great deal of attention." Now it was Wade's turn to grimace, and tried to recover from his slip-up. "Whoops, my bad, Kim; I forgot that Pals is a show that you really like, and I'm very sorry that I disparaged it in any way."

"So not an issue, Wade," reassured a very soft spoken Kim. "You and I will just have to come to grips with the fact that you and I like very different programs, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Besides, despite the silliness of the program in question, you agreed that some people would have noticed if there had been anything to notice. "And, when it comes down to it, that's all we're concerned about at this time, right?" ended Kim on a conciliatory note. Wade did not respond, but concentrated on setting up two new searches to run concurrently with the first one, which still had not found a single hit.

When Wade had finished his efforts at the keyboard, he then returned to Kim, and asked her to resume her thoughts on the matter at hand. As she did so, Wade kept glancing back at that same keyboard, as if that action alone was supposed to alert the keyboard itself, or the system that it was attached to, to search even harder for the targets inputted by him.

"Well, anyway," resumed Kim, "the question then comes up: how did the writers get the ideas to write the cable show that so closely matches up with a non cable show reality? I'm not sure how to prove conclusively that this is the case, but what if the true reality somehow seeped into their minds and they simply wrote down what they perceived, thinking that it was their own thoughts about a new science fiction program? So, you see, it's not so much that they are knowingly stealing ideas from this true reality or universe, but just picking up enough through their imagination receivers to recreate a reasonable copy of the real thing. So if it wasn't for some receptive minds in that strange world that we lost Ron to, that world would not have any cartoon named Kim Possible, and there might not have been any reversed link targeting for me to reach from our real universe into his other universe. In that case, it's almost the exact reverse of the PDVI effect that placed us in the realities that most closely matched the actual cable channels programs. "

Kim then stopped speaking, quietly put her elbows on her knees, rested her chin in her hands, then calmly looked directly into Wade's eyes, and raised both of her eyebrows. "Well, Wade, what do you think of my theory?"

Wade did not answer her at once, but Kim did not press for an answer; she could clearly see Wade's effort to consider all her words before answering. As she waited, she was careful not to breath too heavily or loudly for fear of causing a distraction at a critical time; the silence in the room deepening as the total lack of any beeps emphasized the fact that none of three searches had registered any hits.

"Kim," Wade began slowly, "Just how in the world did you come up this theory of yours? Whatever made you think that this was a viable hypothesis in the first place?"

"I'm sorry Wade, but I guess I was so busy trying to convince myself that I was real and not just an imaginary character, that I was grasping at all the proverbial straws I could get my hands on to form some sort of system that could both explain the similarities between cable shows and some realities and why we were neither a cable show or even a product of somebody else's imagination. I'm really sorry, Wade, for wasting your time with it, but I really thought it might possibly have at least a little merit; I really didn't mean to distract you from your work with this, and I thought it might even help with it."

"No, Kim, you don't have to apologize for anything at all; I think that it's a great theory. I was just wondering how you once again out did me, the so called genius member of this team, with something that might well help us resolve that concern I told you about locking onto only one of a near infinite number of dimensions or probabilities or alternatives. And even if it was only being done to allay your own concerns initially, you still may have grasped something of great value to you and me and our efforts on this sitch. "

"So, Wade, you're not just saying that to make me feel better? I know my mom's a brain surgeon and my dad's a rocket scientist, but I also realize I'm not in their league mentally, at least in those particular areas, and I realize that even my little brothers outshine me-"

"No Kim, I mean it; this is really good; something that I can work on after I take that break my Mom 'suggested' after you leave for that date with Ron." Wade grabbed a piece of paper from a pile next to Kim, and scribbled a few quick notes and sketches to trap his thoughts on paper for use later on that evening. "And I guess I better take that break as soon as you go so that my Mom will not even think about grounding me. I'm actually beginning to think that we might be on the verge of solving the sitch and get you ready for your six universe tour; maybe sooner than I originally thought we could. "

"Really, Wade?," exclaimed an excited Kim, almost going from a seated position to kneeling one in the blink of an eye, as the action girl self suddenly pushed her balancer self to one side and stepped forward, anticipating the adventure. How soon can we be ready Wade? I'm ready and willing and good to go, anytime and anywhere!"

Wade flinched mentally as he recognized the change in the red-headed teenager's demeanor, and wondering if he was about meet up with a PDP or a even more devastating 'serious face' moment; how would he handle them this time? But, before he could say anything like "Need I remind you that we're not doing this to according to schedule? "You'll do it when we're ready and not a moment before, and the mission commander will decide when that moment is, and I am still the mission commander!", and then determined whether this statement would have any calming effect on Kim, or whether he was about to find out what happened when Kim decided she'd had enough of this 'mission commander' sitch 'nonsense' that she'd originally agreed to in the first week, something incredible occurred.

Kim's head quickly dropped downward, and as Wade stared at the top of her head, she began speaking apologetically to the floor. "I'm sorry Wade; I slipped up for a moment and got a little over enthusiastic. I almost forgot that we are not schedule driven, but goal driven only; I promise that it will not happen again. I know what the whole sitch really is, and what I had agreed to at the start; Kimberly Anne Possible does not break agreements, ever, and no part of her, no matter how eager, can break them either". Kim paused for a moment, then slowly raised her head, and returned to a seated position.

Wade noted that her face had lost the excitement present there only moments before, and that a calm expression had replaced it. Since he had not even uttered a single word to cause this change, Wade beginning to realize that there was a lot more to this teenager in front of him than he had ever realized before. And he was very glad that this was so, since he was fairly sure that his words might not have been sufficient to address the situation that had almost arisen. Then he noticed that Kim was about to resume speaking, and he focused on her again, attentively.

"Wade, I therefore deeply apologize for my…slip-up, and I respectfully request that you continue on as you see fit regarding both the multiverse mission sitch and dealing with my recent misbehavior. I want to reassure you that I will not let this be repeated; if I am fortunate enough that you forgive me this time, I realize that a repeat performance will ….probably…end…in…mission…cancellation." Kim paused for another moment, and Wade feared that she was about to cry; he was not at all sure if he could handle a 'calm face crying' any better than PDP or 'serious face'.

"So, Wade, what's the sitch, now?" asked Kim, calmly, but with almost a hint of a pleading tone. "Can the multiverse mission sitch continue, or have I already have knocked that proverbial train totally off the track?"

"Well," started Wade, regaining some of his own control, including that of his voice-of-authority, "since you have acknowledged the importance of keeping agreements and since your recent excited outburst was not really meant to break that agreement, but was just an expression of over eagerness on your part, really more of a cheerleader thing, and after all, you are a cheerleader when you're not working with me here, I think we can indeed move forward after I take my break and you head off to your date with Ron."

"Thank you, Wade; thank you very much for not giving up on me or the mission; I really do appreciate it."

Kimberly then quietly, but quickly, got up, gave the pre-teen boy a quick big sisterly kiss on his forehead, said "Thank You" one more time, quietly, and then headed for the doorway exit. She paused at the doorway, turned to Wade, and said "Please take care of yourself, Wade, and please have a good evening. In fact, Wade, why don't you take the rest the evening off yourself? You really do deserve a good break, even before…you know….my little cheerleader moment. And it's not as if another half day is going to be so the drama, right?…"

"No problem Kim, and be sure that you have a good time with Ron as well. Don't worry, we'll work things out, and I will get you out there, eventually. Just please have little patience with me, and, of course, the multiverse, OK?"

"Roger that, Wade; until later, then…." Kim's voice trailed off as she left his computer room….

Wade stayed in the room for several minutes before he broke for the evening, as his junior partner had suggested. Wade realized that the red-headed teenager was truly the best friend he could ever hope to have, and he appreciated her efforts to keep things stable as they both continued to work this multiversal mission effort. Of course, this only made him more determined to ensure the safety of his best friend as she prepared to do something that no one in her own world had ever done: voluntarily travel to worlds and realities that considered her nothing more than a figment of their own imagination, or nothing more than an interesting combination of penciled lines and coloring applications. As he left the room to see his mom, he vowed that he would not let her down, and would not let her fail, no matter what he had to do….

After Kim left Wade's house, she paused at the end of the sidewalk for about a minute. To an uninformed observer, she seemed to be just collecting her thoughts, possibly regarding her plans for the evening (in this specific case, picking up Ron from Felix's house, and going out with him to a movie, followed by a Nacos festival at Ron's favorite fast food restaurant). To an accomplished telepath, however, it would be clear that there was a battle going on between her balancer self, the action girl self, and the chagrined girl self. To be more accurate however, the balancer was laying an intense verbal smack down on the other two, letting them both know how close she thought they had come to losing everything moments before, and letting them know that she would not permit anything close to a repeat of that near disaster, concluded by saying to her other selves, "Until we step towards that doorway to another universe, I will be in charge of this sitch; Ron is far too important for me to let either of you mess this up at this stage of the game. Don't worry action girl, the moment Wade gives us the green light to finally begin our multiverse mission, I will give you almost total control of everything after that. Until that does occur, however, you will stand down and not interfere. And you (indicating chagrined girl self) will do everything to restrain her so that I can concentrate on finishing the set up with Wade without risk of another incident. Just remember, the only thing nearly as important as Ron and his safety is that we have to make sure we don't ever hurt Wade in any way, shape, or form while we're doing the setup for the mission, and to be there for him if he ever needs us to deal with 'the incident' during our first week working on the sitch. I take it that we're all in agreement on this? Good, now let's go pick up Ron and have some fun tonight. "

The red-headed teenager then absent-mindedly used her right hand to brush back her hair as she shook her head, and began walking at a brisk pace towards where her boyfriend best friend was busy playing a very intense session of "Mummy Mayhem" (or was that "Vampire Viciousness"? It was sometime so hard for Kim to keep track of some of these video games that Ron and Felix found so entertaining. Oh well, boys would be boys, and as far as Ron was concerned, Kim would not have him any other way). Her pace slackened only for a few moments as she realized that the video games her boyfriend and his friend were playing were serving as a useful distraction while she worked with Wade on their 'special project', but that she might have some lengthy explaining to do after she returned from her six sitch mission through the multiverse. Oh well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it; right now, it was more important now that she made sure that the 'special project' was successfully completed as soon as it could safely be done, and that she succeed in her six universe journey as soon as possible after the project was complete; if both those items did not happen, the rest of the sitch wouldn't really matter anyway, would it?

Kim then picked up the pace, and was now almost running; for some reason that she could not clearly explain, she had an intense need to see Ron in person as soon as she possibly could, and make sure that he was alright…..

35 days After Saving Ron:

"Hello, Wade; what's the sitch?"Kim calmly inquired as she entered Wade's computer room five weeks after they had saved Ron from "Wal-Mart World". "Are we still green on the board, or do you have any last minute issues we should resolve before we move forward to the final countdown to my short six sitch tour of the multiverse?

"Kim, I think we're finally ready to go", started Wade, cautiously, "But have you double checked with your parents about this whole thing? And are you really sure, Kim, that you don't want to second guess yourself and call this whole thing off?"

Kim answered Wade's first question immediately. "Yes, and I talked them into it for this one try, but I'm afraid if I let them think about it for too long, they will start to second guess themselves and take back their permission. And I don't want to do it against their wishes….." Kim's voice trailed off as she considered Wade's second question.

Kim paused for several moments, and gave the second question full consideration before answering it. "No, Wade, I don't want to call this off; in fact, I really can't do it. I want to do this the way we have planned, succeed in the mission, and then retire this," she said, holding up the Multiversal Kimmunicator, "into your storage shelf area, to be used again only if my boyfriend, my family, you, or anyone else in this reality are ever taken away by any of the other universes outside of our own, even if by forces that we still don't fully understand." Kim then paused again, collected her thoughts, and resumed.

"But keep this in mind, Wade; just like I cannot avoid fighting Drakken and Shego, Monkey Fist, DNAmy, Frugal Lucre, Camille Leon, or any other of the villains or super-villains of our own reality just because I don't always fully understand all the things they know or about what they can do to threaten my success in stopping them here each and every day, I cannot just walk away from this mission just because it may turn out to be too hard to do. In fact, to recall something a president of the 20th century once said: 'we do this and that and the other things, not because they are easy,-but because they are hard'." Kim paused for several seconds more, and then continued to speak.

"By the way, Wade, if you don't think that I've checked with my parents about this mission, you can, of course, call them to confirm that they are indeed good with me on this activity. In fact, you can, if you want to, try to talk them out of their agreement to let me go. You can then have them cancel this mission, so you don't have to…."Kim's voice had steadily dropped from her normal, calm tone at the beginning of her follow-on statement to a near silent whisper at the end, and her facial expression had slowly but steadily changed from one of calmness and acceptance to one bordering on pain. It was as if some invisible person was twisting her arm or some other sensitive part of her body, and she was silently enduring the assault and trying not to acknowledge the actual presence of such an attack by either word or deed.

Wade silently contemplated the teen's now motionless face, and realized that he understood both the fading voice and the pained expression: the young girl in front of him sincerely believed that if he was simply call to confirm the agreement that she had made with them, the call itself might be enough to have them reconsider and remove their approval, and she sincerely feared that he was going to do that to stop her without having to make that decision himself. And since she had already agreed that she would not argue with that decision, she was forcing herself to accept final defeat just as she had hoped to achieve a final success after weeks of waiting and working on her most difficult challenge ever. Wade realized that he was in the position to do what no one in the world had ever done before: finally totally defeat a young teenage girl named Kim Possible. Wade was, for the moment, more powerful than any of her world's villains, and because of something he knew that Kim did not, a call to her parents at this time to confirm her agreement would indeed have that exact effect. He could stop her cold; all he had to do was make the call. Wade pondered his immense power, as the red headed teenager silently waited for him to speak.

"Actually , Kim, there's no need to do that," calmly replied Wade, now certain of his course of action, "your parents called me 5 minutes before you got here, and gave me a message regarding your planned adventure today. Would you like to hear what that message is?"

"Not really, Wade, but I also know that I have no choice in this matter" the low keyed and steady tone of her voice belied the simultaneous increase in pain on her face. It now looked like someone was trying to remove her appendix or do other major abdominal surgery without the benefit of anesthesia local or otherwise, and she was stoically enduring the same without making a sound regarding same. She was, accepting before the fact the end of all her hopes and dreams for this sitch, all without a single verbal complaint. Wade could not let her suffer any longer; he just hoped that he would not soon be suffering because of his mercy towards her.

"Your parents told me to be sure that I kept an eye on you throughout all the sitches, and to be sure that I always had your back. They also told me that you were a big girl, and were going with their permission, so that I should NOT blame myself if some things did not 'work out'. They asked me to call them after you finished the missions, or …if….something…..happened…" Wade paused, grimaced for a moment, and then continued quietly. "I assured them that you and I had agreed that I would hit the retrieval button as fast as I could to pull you out of a sitch gone bad, and I would do whatever I needed to always protect you to the best of my ability." Wade paused again, and then continued in a near dead monotone. "Your mother then told me she fully appreciated my intentions and my commitment and that she knew that I would always do my best, but that if it turned out that 'my fastest' was not fast enough, she would understand, and that I should simply call her so she could come right over and spend some time with me here, as much and as long as I needed her, before…taking…you…home…for…" Wade's voice trailed off, and it was his turn now for his head to drop down, as Kim absorbed this new information.

If Wade had not dropped his head down, he would have seen a very peculiar change in Kim's face as the full meaning of the message sank in. The look of pain completely vanished, and was replaced by a mixture of puzzlement and something that would have been indescribable to the young boy who had caused it by his recounting of the message from Kim's parents, especially the last sentence from her mother. Even her mother or father might not have been able to describe exactly what else was in her face, but they might have sensed some combination of anger, shock, determination, disbelief, and intrigue, as Kim coped with, or attempted to cope with, the latest unexpected turn of events.

Wade picked up his head after about 30 seconds, and looked at Kim to see her facial reaction to his news regarding his conversation with her parents, since she had not spoken a word since he had finished his last sentence. By then, however, her face had returned to a calm and unclouded condition, and she spoke before Wade could say anything more.

"So, Wade, our multiversal mission sitch is still a go for today unless I call it off, right?" Kim held her breath for about a moment, then continued with a question regarding Wade's original question to her. "By the way, Wade, did you ask me about double-checking with my parents solely so you could insert your second question about me double-checking with myself, since you already knew that they had called and given you a go ahead before I arrived? And was it that you hoped that your combination of the two double check questions together would help encourage me to cancel my own mission so that you would not have to?"

Kim paused for a moment yet again , but quickly resumed before Wade could respond to her initial questions.

"And after I suggested that you could talk to my parents to double check with them that they had given me permission to travel today, did you then present your last piece of info regarding the fact they had already called and had a message regarding my mission hoping to the last that I would interpret the presence of a 'message' to be a 'stop Kim' message, and just take myself off the mission run without you having to say 'stop Kim it's all over'?" Kim finished her last question in a calm, almost monotone, voice that never the less seem to be somewhat sympathetic to the recipient of the question.

Wade did not pick up on the tone of Kim's voice, as he hung his head down and softly answered with a single word: "Yes." His eyes began to water; he might well be a genius in some things, but he had been unable to outthink the teenager in this area.

Kim resumed speaking with the same almost monotone, but with sympathy, vocal output "Well, Wade, at least you kept your promise to my mom and dad about protecting me: nobody could really doubt that the best way of protecting me was for me to cancel the mission myself. That way I would not be sneaking out into the mission as I might have if either you, or mom and dad, had told me not to go off. Yes, Wade, you certainly did your very best to keep your promise to my mom and dad; they should be very proud of you doing WHATEVER you could keep me safe and sound. I really can't fault you for anything in that regard."

As Kim finished her short speech, Wade raised his head and looked at the face of his 'junior partner', and saw that a touch of sadness had been added to the calm that had been there before. He also noticed her tone of voice in this second speech as well as the brief addition of 'hurt' to that tone as she had said the word 'whatever'. The young boy swallowed, tried to collect his thoughts before he began to speak to her and confess yet again, wondering how she would deal with him now. The only thing he was sure of was that whatever she said or did to him in response to his confession, he would fully deserve it.

"But, Kim, I don't deserve your sympathy, or your understanding", Wade began. "I did try to mislead you; I did, Kim, I did it all. It was my last ditch effort to stop you when nothing else could. After saying I wasn't going to lie to you anymore as mission commander, I once again did, and I deserve everything you-".

"So not supported by the facts, Wade" interrupted Kim, a smile appearing on her face for the first time since her arrival at Wade's room that day, and her voice now partially reflected that expression while maintaining an upbeat but sympathetic tone.

"The fact that you asked me about whether I'd double checked with my parents about their permission and followed that with a question about my own double-checking was not misleading in the least. After all I might have only gotten their permission by checking with them, not double-checking with them, and in protecting me you had every right to see if I had indeed double checked with them. And if I was a goofy enough teenager to assume the only reason my parents would have called you and left a message was to cancel the mission is no strike against you, either. In fact, Wade despite the fact you may not think it, you rock in more ways than computer work; you have way better communication skills than most kids your age, or even my age. And because I do have some logical reasoning skills to work with even I am not working with you on this or other items, I should have been able to work through all these things before I got to this point." Kim paused for yet another moment, widened her smile and concluded her response to his attempted confession by saying" and when you really had the chance to lie and get away with it, you didn't; you gave me my parent's message exactly as you were given it, even though it undoubtedly hurt you to say it. So, Wade, you are not guilty in the first, second, or third degree of anything, unless it might be overplaying the part of a mother hen with her baby chick-"

This time, Wade cut her off: "Why are you letting me off Kim? Why are you being so sympathetic, or merciful, or both, to me? I clearly don't fully deserve either, so why are you doing it?" pleaded Wade; it was bad enough when you had to confess to someone anyway, but even worse when the recipient of the confession claimed there was no need for one…

"Wade, there are two reasons why I am 'letting you off' as you so straight-forwardly say it." Responded Kim with a quiet and measured tone of voice. "First off, you do deserve it; even without 'that which we're not going to talk about anymore' thing we got through that first week, I have put you through a whole obstacle course of challenges and issues to deal with in the past few weeks, and you've gotten us to the start of the big game, the actual mission sitch, and I owe you a whole bunch of favors for that alone. Secondly, if I somehow actually buy your argument that you misled me and thus don't deserve to be mission leader anymore, then who is to be watching my back for my jump into my six sitches? After all, I really can't do all of this on my own, even if I am the 'girl who could do anything', right? " Kim somehow managed to smile even more broadly than she already was, and continued. "So, Wade, unless you are ready to call a mission cancellation yourself, as the mission commander or mission leader, here and now, I believe we should precede forward on this mission without further delay.".. Kim stopped talking and waited for Wade to respond, a slight smile remaining on her face. She was gambling on her teammate and leader doing the right thing, even though he might not like it at all, but she felt that the odds were in her favor because of who her teammate was. This was also a case where she had no options; it was either this or nothing.

"So, Kim, do you think that I'm not able to call a cancellation on this multiversal mission sitch, even at this point; that I don't really have the strength to do it here and now?" challenged the young boy, who was doing his best to be ready to do exactly that and show her that he did indeed have the strength to do what needed to be done if he had to do it. Kim's smile vanished, and she was fully in 'calm face' as she prepared to respond to that challenge.

"No, Wade, I think you ARE quite able to call a cancellation on this multiverse mission sitch. I'm just hoping that you won't do so and keep me from proving that we're able NOW to help Ron and all the others. And, as I originally agreed to, I will not debate or argue with your final decision. I will, however, respectfully request that you explain to me the reason or reasons behind your decision so that I can better understand why I can't go now when we're ready, finally, to do so." Kim took a deep breath, sighed a little, then continued. "I do, however, want to let you know that your mission cancellation decision will hurt me more than you may imagine if I can't do what I have been hoping to do for so long without a really good reason for that cancellation decision. After all, we have both worked so hard to get here and be ready for this day, and I've been upping my training between our regular missions to make sure that I'm as ready as I can be to do this six sitch mission and not let down my mission leader…or...my…boyfriend. You'll have to give me a reason why, after all this effort on both our parts, we should just turn things off and go home, other than simply that you don't want to let me go out on the mission."

"But how can a good mission leader send off a junior partner or teammate into a risky or even out right dangerous or deadly situation; what kind of mission leader does that?" questioned Wade, hoping that she would let him cancel without needing to explain anything more than that.

"Aaaaahhh, the Fearless Ferret?" Kim responded, in a tone and an inflection that made Wade wonder whether Kim had somehow managed to channel Ron himself regarding all things "ferrety".

"What do you mean, Kim?" a somewhat confused Wade inquired. He was rapidly beginning to rue the day that the redheaded teenager had apparently decided to immerse herself in one of "TV trash"'s more popular action series; he had initially thought that it would be a good thing so that she would understand him and Ron better. What was it about the old saying "be careful what you wish for"? He unfortunately now appreciated it all too well. Doubly unfortunate for the young computer boy, Kim was ready with an answer to his question.

"Wasn't there an episode in which the Fearless Ferret was too big to crawl through an air duct or a pipe and he had Ferret Girl do it instead to stop the Smirker from ruining the city's Harbor Day celebration? Wasn't she in danger then, when she did what she had to do to save the day and the city because she was the only one who could? Now I know it was only a TV show to us, but she did survive the crawl through the air duct or pipe to rescue the Weasel Wonder (or is it Wonder Weasel?) from the Smirker's Cage of Doom. Besides, Wade, if my theory about multiverses and cable shows, etc., then it's possible that there was a reality where the real Ferret Girl did exactly that, and -"

"I don't care about the real Ferret Girl from another reality!" exploded Wade, with the sudden realization of what his problem had been from the very beginning of the whole multiverse mission sitch, but which, until now, he had been…too…blind…or…stupid…to…truly…grasp. "I only care about the real Ferret Girl from my reality! I only care about you and your safety! And besides, your Fearless Ferret analogy doesn't really apply for another, more important reason: I cannot be the Fearless Ferret; I'm way too young! I'm not old enough to make life and death decisions like he could!"Wade wept uncontrollably now as he repeated the crux of the problem I'm…just…not…old…enough…to send you to your possible death! I'm so sorry, Kim, I really did let you down big time after all! And I didn't even realize until now how big I was letting you down until just now; honest, Kim, I didn't really mean to mislead you this time, I…I…I…" Wade stopped talking and just quietly continued weeping.

Kim's lower jaw had dropped just before the end of the first sentence of Wade's "I don't care…" interruption, but her eyes had widened and their pupils had contracted the moment she had heard the "not old enough" sentence, and she realized how clueless all three of her inner selves had been when she had agreed to Wade's "mission leader" demand; none of them had foreseen the potential results of what appeared at the time to be a perfectly expedient solution to a sticky sitch after the "personal space" issue. Kim had completely unintentionally and innocently set Wade up for a sitch that made the original "personal space" issue pale by comparison. "No third chance" echoed in the thought-space of the balancer, chagrined, and action facets of the spanking Middleton cheerleader, and the tone was one of a final doom reverberating to all who heard it. To have come so far, dealt with so much, and to lose everything at the very last-

Action girl self reacted first, moving forward, intending to first shoulder aside balancer self and take control of the sitch, shaking some sense into the emotionally distraught young boy (yes, gasoline will always help put out a nasty brushfire, won't it?). Chagrinned girl self was left far behind, unable to even slow "action" down. But she would soon have more important things to be concerned about.

Balancer simultaneously stepped out of Action's way and swung her right arm backward just as forward moving Action reached Balancer's pre-move location, hitting Action squarely across her chest and shooting her right back into a transfixed Chagrinned and forcing the now temporarily entwined pair to the mental edge of thought space. However, they could still clearly hear balancer's single sentence command to them both: "Stay right where you are if you want this sitch saved."

"Wade, I'm so sorry too, I was so without a clue what I was setting you up for when I agreed to that part of the conditions you implemented."Kim spoke, in her most apologetic voice (it was also heavily laden with sorrow and sadness). "But I have a solution to get us out of this sitch-"

"No, you don't, Kim, because we both know the outcome of me deciding to transfer mission commander or mission leader title to you. It's no different than if I simply okayed you to head off to your possible death. I'll be making that life and death choice anyway the moment I say 'you're in charge', so there's no help there." Wade concluded, dejectedly. They were both in a sitch that decidedly stunk.

"You're right, Wade," Kim agreed, her balancer carefully measuring each and every word spoken, "transferring command authority to me would not solve anything. That is not the solution that I was suggesting. For one thing, there's no need for you to transfer authority to anyone; it's already been taken from you." And before Wade could speak in opposition to that statement, Kim quickly added, "And not by me."

"Wait a minute Kim," said an increasingly confused Wade; his crying stopped and a look of puzzlement supplanting all the emotions that had been on his face only moments before. "If you didn't take the authority for this mission, who did? There's nobody else here!"

Kim realized that she would have to be extremely gentle right now, just like a real big sister would be if she had to break the facts of life to her little brother at the worst possible time in his young life.

"Wade, do you remember the last part of the message my mom gave you to give to me?"

"Of course, Kim, I can't get it out of my mind, no matter how hard I try."

"And after she said that, did you agree to call her, no matter what the reason for the call?"

"Yes, Kim, but what does that have to do-"

"Wade, the moment you agreed to do what she asked you to do, she became the mission commander; now you're just the mission console operator who has my back while I'm out on the mission under her command authority. We both have to face it Wade, my Mom is now actually in charge of this sitch; we're just two of her subordinates who are implementing the mission plan until it is completed."

"No, that can't be!" denied Wade, with as much "authority voice" as he could muster. "She didn't understand the implications of what she was doing! She didn't realize -"

"But, that's just it, Wade," interrupted Kim, with as much calmness and softness in her voice as she could muster as emotions rose within her as she also absorbed what her mother had done to save them both from a 'no win' sitch. "She realized well before you and I did what we had done to you when we made that agreement four weeks ago. She realized it immediately as I had told her about us agreeing that you would be mission leader; she realized the time bomb we had unknowingly planted in your little genius mind and heart. That's why she called you while I was on my way over here; she wanted to make sure that she pulled the plug on that time bomb, and that's why she made sure you agreed to it before I got here and that you would be telling me it when I arrived. The only trouble was that I was too slow to pick up on it before you encountered your 'I'm not old enough 'moment; I'm just glad I realized when I finally did."

"No, no," replied Wade, "it can't-"

"But it can, Wade," replied Kim, a tone of extreme pride rising in her voice as she continued to speak. "You are only a very smart young boy, and I am only just a plucky average girl who's trying hard to save her world. But my mother is one remarkable woman, and we are both so very lucky that she decided to save us from ourselves, and give me the final go ahead for this mission the way she did. You know, I am half wondering whether she got this by my dad without him being any the wiser; sometimes he could be more like you and me that we might imagine, and might miss a lot of the stuff that Mom picks up on…"

Wade finally accepted the reality of the situation as it now was, and the truth behind Kim's quiet but heartfelt statement.

"So, Kim, I guess it's time for you to go, isn't it?" Wade said, with a true calmness in his voice that he had not really felt since Kim had brought him the PDVI. Kim was right, her mom was truly awesome, and she, not them, had saved the day this time. No wonder Kim was always so proud of her…

"Yes, Wade, I think it is indeed time for me to go. Ready for Sitch One!" declared Kim, as she put on some special gloves for this first mission into the multiverse.

Beginning lock-on sequence to first sitch location…lock-on is confirmed, Kim! We are go for Sitch One!

"Roger, Wade, the Multiversal Kimmunicator has an 11-dimensional space lock, solid as a rock. Which, by the way, you and my mom are also!"

"And Kim, you really know how to roll!" shot back Wade. Caught up in the moment, he asked a final question. "Any special words for posterity, Kim?" Even now, he could not say the word 'final'; he hoped Kim would not be upset with the substitution he had made in this case, and that she would understand.

The redheaded teenager, in her classic mission attire and with a special mission backpack, thought for a moment, harkened back to a time before her birth, and spoke with a wide smile on her face, and a merry twinkle in her glistening green eyes. "That's one small step for a cheerleader, and a giant leap for Ronkind!"

She pressed the "MPI" button on her Multiversal Kimmunicator, which initiated the Multiversal Portal Interface function, opening a "door" into another reality. The so called door appeared to be actually a paper thin sheet of pastel white light fog roughly 8 feet high by 6 feet wide. This illusion was the best approximation that a human eye could make to the reality inherent in multi dimensional travel; the equally inappropriately termed 'light curtain' provided a temporary physical connection to the other universe. Kim chuckled, turned back to the young boy one last time, and quipped, "I guess I'd better revise that to' several small steps for a cheerleader', eh, Wade? Oh, well, I think I heard that some people argued over what the first man on the moon actually said that first time as well; I guess I'm in good company in any case."

Kim paused for one moment, and then spoke again. "Take care here, Wade, and don't worry. I'll be back before you know it, so no peeking at those letters, OK?" referring to the letters she had written "In the event…" for Wade, Ron, her parents, her brothers, and some other special people, including Wade's own mom. Although differing in specifics for each recipient, all copies had one thing in common: the redheaded teenager took full responsibility for any mission disaster that occurred that prevented her from returning home safely, and stressed, at length, that no blame should ever be attached to her loyal and trustworthy teammate. Although she had not truly understood the situation regarding Wade and the mission commander slip up at the time she wrote the letters, part of her might have understood enough: in none of the letters did she ever use the term mission leader or mission commander when referring to Wade; she had, in effect, seized the term from him posthumously as the last gift a big sister could ever give her little brother. Kim did firmly believe she would return from her six sitch mission, but she understood that even in the world of Dr. Drakken and Shego, things could always go wrong, and had always prepared for the darkest possibilities. This sitch was no exception, and she'd done what she could to deal with an unacceptable sitch ending.

Kim turned her face away from Wade and back at the portal. As she did so, Wade could see her face change, and he realized that she was now truly in 'mission mode'. Although he would still worry about her, he realized that she was ready as she ever could be for this adventure, and that this was something she had to do, for both Ron and for herself. The best he could do now was to do all he could to watch her back, and be ready to pull her out if needed.

Kim started moving forward, now firmly in her classical running stance, ready for anything. Just before she reached the portal and stepped through, Wade shouted "Good Luck, Kim!"

As she stepped through the doorway to elsewhere, Wade spun around in his chair to view her entry into that "elsewhere" on his monitor screen. As she continued running forward, away from the doorway, and as the doorway faded away and closed the passage between both realities, Wade positioned his hand protectively over the large "Retrieve" button that was just to the right of his regular keyboard, hoping against hope that he would not need to use it. He was also hoping against hope, as his lips moved in silent prayer, that he was not about to see the last of the amazing adventures of a girl named "Kim Possible"…

The End…Of The Beginning

****To Be Continued****

(A/N #1: I know this third chapter is as large as the first two combined, and I seriously thought about splitting this in two, but decided against it. I hope my decision will be acceptable to the reader, and I promise to try harder to do better in subsequent submissions. Your comments/feedback/reviews are greatly appreciated; please and thank you.)

(A/N #2: The 20th century president Kim references in this chapter regarding doing hard things was the late John F. Kennedy in our reality; I omitted the name only because I was uncertain whether KP Canon ever explicitly noted or denied JFK's existence in the KP Universe, and did not wish to cause any unneeded confusion (If he wasn't in the KP World, then another like-minded president said them for KP's benefit). However, since at the time of this writing we have just recently observed the 48th anniversary of his assassination in Dallas, Texas I felt it was incumbent on me to attribute those words to the person that spoke them in our world, lest I be accused of some form of pan-dimensional plagiarism.)

(A/N #3: Neil Armstrong was the "first man on the moon" in our reality; I remember Ron and Kim once discussing the historical event itself, with Ron holding to the "moon hoaxer" and Kim apparently the "so not the hoax" proponent of the discussion, but no specific names were mentioned. If an AU Neil was not in KP's universe, I'm sure there was still discussion over whatever the person who took his place did say at the time.)

Kim Possible © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same.


	4. Chapter 4

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 4:

Sitch 1 World: A Daring Intervention

The late afternoon was bright, but cold. The sense of death hung in the air, as two beings from another world slowly succumbed to a piece of wreckage from that long dead world. And a few yards in front of those two beings, a hairless human male relished in their suffering, and gloated over their impending doom. Less than a mile away behind the gloating male, an impenetrable and almost invisible shield held back the friends and allies of those two beings. The would-be rescuers exhibited a vast array of diverse and awesome powers, but the shield was successfully resisting all of them. An Amazonian woman screamed in rage as she attempted to disrupt the force field with her fists and bracelets. A blur of red and yellow attempted unsuccessfully to vibrate through the shield. A woman speaking in reverse was similarly unable to disrupt or deflect or even open a crack in the shield. Yet another female continually repeating the phrase "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" was also failing to effect a passage through the dome-like shield. In like manner, a winged man's mace, another man's glowing green ring, and a third man's impressive and diverse collection of special arrows were ineffective in breaking the barrier that blocked their rescue efforts.

There was one somber, dark-uniformed individual wearing a pointed-eared cowl that was slowly but steadily making the best headway against the shield, but the computer aiding in dismantling the shield predicted its own success to occur no less than 10 minutes after the victims' demise. The individual glanced to his left to see a half-human cyborg using a sonic blaster on his arm in his own attempt to shatter or dent the wall of force, and smiled wryly as he also noted a blond-haired female using her own sonic voice power in tandem with the cyborg. Then he shook his head sadly; it appeared that no magic, science, or natural power was sufficient to shatter the bald man's defenses in time for any of them to rescue the two alien beings. Indeed, it appeared that this time there would be no happy ending, no last minute rescue.

And then something happened. Extremely high-tech devices used by the cowled individual detected a brief, but significant, jump across the electromagnetic spectrum at a point within the defense zone. While they could not identify the exact nature of the event, it was possible to identify the approximate location within the shielded area. When he directed his tech-enhanced senses at the location indicated, he was unable to believe, momentarily, what he was seeing. He turned to his right, and requested assistance from his Amazonian companion.

"Diana, look 10° to your left and about 1500 yards ahead, and tell me what you see there."

Wonder Woman did not question her companion's request despite her own increasing agitation at her inability to accomplish a rescue of one of her best friends and his cousin, but turned her head and examined the location specified.

"Great Hera, Batman, there's a girl or young woman on the field, running away from what looked like a door of light, but the door has vanished. She looks almost like Batgirl, but no, it's not her! I don't recognize her, Batman, and I know it can't be one of my people! Who is she, and how did she get there?"

"My questions exactly, Diana, and I have two additional ones as well: what is she going to do now that she is there? Is she there to help Luthor, or oppose him?"

Before Diana could respond to the Dark Knight's query, he was answered by another female's voice; one that appeared to be strangely disjointed, as if the speaker herself was not certain about the words she was speaking to her two companions. Well before the Dark Knight's question, she had been repeating the phrase "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" to strengthen her abilities in her failed attempt to push through the barrier, but she had stopped the mystic mantra at exactly the same time as Batman had received the indication of a power spike within the shielded area. She had felt, rather than seen, the opening of the door from elsewhere, and the entry of the stranger from that unknown world. Her empathic senses had been overwhelmed by the brief mixing of her reality with that of the stranger's own reality through the doorway, and she was still struggling to regain control as she tried to answer the questions that Batman had posed to Wonder Woman.

"She is not one of us…..she is from somewhere else…a place where she is real and…we are not. She has come to this world….to help our friends and….save the day. But I don't understand how…..in this world we are real and….she is not."

"Raven, what are you saying?" Asked Wonder Woman. "Are you saying that we are suffering from hallucinations when we think that we see this girl or young woman? Batman and I can't both be delusional at the same time, can we?"

The young woman continued to struggle to make herself understood. "No, you are not delusional, there is…someone…in there, and she is trying to help us. But she has no reality in this world; in this world, she is an imaginary character who is seen only on a television program that Beast Boy watches each week. But in her world, she is as real as you and I are here, and she has somehow found a way to step between her world and ours."

"Through the door way of light that Batman and I saw earlier, Raven?" Questioned the Amazon.

"Yes", Raven answered, "and it somehow allows the real of one world to enter another world of real." The troubled empath continued to struggle to control her emotions and the effect of that brief mixing of the two worlds had had upon her. "I'm... I'm sorry, Diana, it is just so hard to deal with the interaction of two partially conflicting realities and to explain to you and Batman at the same time. "

"It's all right, Raven, just do the best you can…." Reassured Diana. As she comforted the younger woman beside her, she asked a question of her other companion. "Batman, what is she doing now?"

"She's continuing to head towards Luthor and our friends… No, wait, she's stopping about 50 yards short of the kryptonite….."

Kim halted her forward motion for a moment, performed a quick visual scan around her, then knelt down and took off her backpack. Knowing full well that time was of the essence, she quickly opened her backpack and took out her second special item for this particular sitch. She then closed up the backpack, put it back on, and resumed her path towards her target. As she narrowed the distance, she was able to hear the words of the boastful man much more clearly; he obviously was still completely unaware of her approach, and was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"So, Superman, what do you have to say in the last minutes of your life? And, what of your cousin? Does she have any sweet words for me to remember her by?" Asked Lex Luthor, his every word dripping with sarcasm. It taken a lot of effort to set the trap, lure the teenage Kryptonian within the range of kryptonite, and then used a special device of his own design that temporarily enhanced the kryptonite radiation just enough to surprise her would-be rescuer, quickly turning a rapid speed fly-by into a crash landing. Now both Kryptonians were secured to their adoptive world by titanium-steel chains, and the architect of their doom was savoring every labored breath of his other-worldly adversaries. Wearing his 1000 dollar-plus business suit instead of his classical battle armor suit had helped fool the female into thinking he posed no danger to her during their encounter, and had displayed a particularly brilliant stroke of genius on his part. It was, undoubtedly, the last mistake she would ever make in this life.

"Luthor, please let Kara go; your fight is with me, not her." The Man of Steel to struggled to get the words out; he had rarely been this severely affected by green kryptonite, and he was beginning to realize that this time could be the time that the criminal genius would finally claim victory. Perhaps, however, he could at least convince Luthor to let his young cousin go…

"Kal, no; don't you beg him for anything, I won't leave you here alone. Besides, you should know by now that he is totally devoid of mercy. He's always criticizing us for being nonhuman, but in all the really important ways, he's even less human than we are."

"Don't worry, Blondie, I have no intention of letting you live past this moment", Luthor sneered. "After all, your cousin is a big enough pain as it is, but he is, after all, but one Kryptonian. You, however, are far more dangerous than he ever could be."

"Kara is more dangerous than I am?", questioned Superman, incredulously, certain that the kryptonite poisoning was affecting his hearing even more than just removing the "super" from in front of it.

The blond-haired teenager also could not believe her ears. She often joked with her cousin about how she looked better in the "S" than he did, and that anything he could do she could do better if she really tried, but she had been totally floored by Lex's confession that she was the real threat to him and his world, and not her more famous relative.

"Lex, how am I more dangerous than my cousin is?" Kara demanded to know. After all it was bad enough that she was about to die, but to die with this unanswered mystery hanging over her was somehow make it even worse, if that was it all possible.

"I assume, young lady, that Krypton had its equivalent of 'the birds and the bees'? And that you are fairly well versed in the subject matter?"

"Of course, Lex, and I got a high honor plus grade in health education class, but what does that have to do with..?"Kara stopped in midsentence, and her eyes widened, as she finally realized the import of his line of conversation. No, Lex, you can't mean that you want to kill me because…."

"Because you could produce a whole new generation of Kryptonians to colonize my world? After all, 10 or 20 strapping young teenagers could probably best me even with me in my battle suit, and they could go on to produce hundreds or more of a second generation after ridding earth of her best true defender."

"Luthor, you can't be serious!" Argued the last Son of Krypton with almost literally his dying breath. For some unknown reason, Luthor's accusation against his cousin hurt him even more than the kryptonite poisoning did. "My cousin is not a Kryptonian rabbit, and even if she was, she would need to have a mate, and there is no one…."

Lex Luthor cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "Come on now, Superman, even you must know that first cousins can marry on this world, and after all, it is the survival of your entire species that's at stake, isn't it"?

Superman looked at the bald-headed man with disgust and then glanced at his cousin. What he saw in her face nearly killed him inside: her pleading eyes tried to show that she'd never considered that option, and had never even thought of that solution to Kryptonian survival, but that she now feared that somehow her cousin would think that Lex Luthor had somehow read her mind and uncovered her deeply held secrets.

Then suddenly her expression changed, and she turned her attention back to Luthor, and spoke with him with as much strength in her voice as she had left. "OK Lex, you win, I'm much more dangerous than Kal is; so why don't you just kill me right now by bringing that kryptonite right next to me, and finishing me off quickly, once and for all. Then let my cousin go free, because without me there's no chance for a Kryptonian colony here." Kara realized it was unlikely Lex would take her up on her offer but she had to try to save her cousin; that way, at least one of them would be around still to help the people of Earth when they most needed the help….

"No, you devious Kryptonian female" emphatically snarled Luthor before Superman himself could interrupt, "I will not rest easy until both of your permanently green bodies are interred in the ground and out of my life forever. Only then will this world be saved from your alien meddling influence, and only then will I be free to—"

"Pardon me, Mr. Luthor, but did you know that it's not a good idea to let your pet rock be unwrapped in the cold afternoon air? If you're not careful, it can really cause that beautiful green color to fade, and then where would you be? You would just have an ordinary rock, after all, and what fun is there in that after you spending all that money to steal it from the Nairobi Museum?"

The criminal genius spun around, and glared at a redheaded teenage girl who even now had just completed the wrapping of the kryptonite rock in a blanket as if it was a child she was about to baby sit.

"Who the devil are you, and how did you get past my impenetrable shield? I designed it specifically to make sure that none of their friends could get to them in time to save them! And what group are you with? Batman? Black Canary and her stupid birds of prey? Are you with that group of sickening teenagers, the Teen Titans? Or are you just a new loner, a new vigilante female, whose first and last foolish venture into being a hero brings her a quick and painful death?"

Without waiting for even an attempt at an answer to any of his questions, Lex Luthor flung a previously hidden knife directly at the heart of his unknown adversary. The finely honed titanium steel alloy blade sliced quickly through the air towards its target, and—

Kept on flying through the chilly afternoon air, since the "doomed" target had vacated that space only fraction of the second before certain death would have occurred. The girl had executed a perfect triple forward somersault in midair even as the knife had left Luthor's murderous hand, and had landed only 20 feet from the increasingly confused master criminal himself. And she was still wearing that silly, ridiculous smile, almost as if she hadn't really realized that he had thrown a knife at her, and that she had almost had his last sentence as her epitaph.

She, however, quickly disabused him of that notion. With a twinkle in her green eyes, she spoke to him a second time.

"Oh, Mr. Luthor, now look what you've done; you've gone and lost one of your beautiful shiny toys. Now, I know that you are very wealthy man, but you really should not be so careless with your things. Besides, a girl could get the impression you weren't at all thankful for my help with your pet rock problem, and I'd really like to leave here with the idea that I have really helped somebody who needed it. After all, it's what I do every day where I come from."

Twenty feet…She was too close to dodge the next one, thought Lex with satisfaction. His right wrist moved a fraction of an inch as he noted with satisfaction her eyes glancing without concern at the instrument of her impending destruction. She would never know what hit her—

Then, suddenly, his satisfaction turned to confusion, and then to fear. He could not move his right arm any further, and his wrist felt like it was in an iron vise. A very soft, well padded, iron vise, that is.

"Now, Lex, I really think you should calm down now, and not do anything more foolish today. I suppose I should feel flattered that you see me as such a threat, but I'm not sure I'll even have one child someday, much less a whole new generation of Kryptonians. I just wish you would get it if through your head that Kal and I are nowhere near the danger to Earth and her people that you are."

Lex Luthor looked to his right to behold the blond Kryptonian, as she slowly raised his wrist with her left hand and gently but firmly removed the deadly knife from his right hand with her own. "Isn't that right, Kal?"

"Yes, Kara, it certainly is," said the Man of Steel as he took the shield generator remote control from the left hand of the now defeated criminal, and prepared to press the "off" button.

"Not yet, Superman", quickly interrupted the auburn-haired girl. "Don't let them in yet; please and thank you. I have something to say to the three of you before I leave here".

Superman considered her request, and glanced first at his young cousin, then to his left to view their friends just outside the still-solid barrier, all of whom had ceased their efforts to break it after Batman had informed them that Superman and Supergirl had Lex Luthor and the situation well in hand. Still thinking, he looked again at her, and she imagined that she could almost feel his x-ray vision scanning her as he glanced from her head to her toes, and back again…..

The teen adventuress patiently waited for the Man of Steel's decision. If he turned off that shield now, the second part of her mission here would be at risk, and she might even have to try to beat a hasty retreat, or hope that Wade's retrieval mechanism actually worked as planned. As she studied the Man of Steel's face, trying to decide what his decision would be, she realized she could not tell whether he would grant her request, or instead ask his friends to check out the strange visitor from another world at great length without delay.

All she was really certain of was that if he did not cooperate, the existing sitch would become sticky indeed, and the entire six sitch mission would become even more complicated….

****To Be Continued****

(A/N #1: I saw that this first sitch was turning out to be at least a "double sized" chapter like chapter 3, but decided that this time I would split it in two, and used the point where the two "victims" have effectively regained control of the situation [and Lex Luthor!], and don't really need our red-headed teen heroine's assistance any longer. Will Superman comply with her request, or will the entire Justice League soon be talking up close and personal with our bon-diggity cheerleader [cue Batman with serious face, or Wonder Woman with lasso of truth]? Will Wade then consider this a "Retrievable Moment", and push that much vaunted button? And if so, what happens if a super-fast Flash manages to "grab" Kim before she's pulled through? Will the next chapter be titled "The Fastest Man in Middleton" or "The Amazon and Mr. Barkin"? Well, I guess, dear reader, that I should end this speculation exposition and get back to the actual Chapter 5 work area, so that I can eventually answer these and other fascinating questions. In the mean time, thanks again, in advance, for any reviews or PMs you may care to send my way on this chapter; they will be greatly appreciated)

(A/N #2: [added to chapter 4 on 01/25/2012]- I've edited the first sentence of the next to last paragraph to remove 7 unneeded words and initial cap'd two words and resubmitted this chapter following my submission of a new chapter 5 to the story to improve readability and flow to the continuation of this tale. Thanks again to all who have reviewed the story so far and/or who have sent PM's; they are all greatly appreciated)

Kim Possible © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the others with them © DC Comics

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same.


	5. Chapter 5

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 5:

Sitch 1 World: …Some Things You Ought to Know…

(A/N: My apologies for the delay in the arrival of this newest installment; it wasn't supposed to have taken this long to send out this chapter […why yes, this is my first story for the fanfiction website; why do you ask?...]. The supposed second half of this first of six multiverses adventure has itself become double-sized or worse, and has now itself been split into two to make things somewhat more manageable [..hope does spring eternal, doesn't it? Or is denial more than just a river in Egypt?...]. Hopefully, however, the wait will prove to have been a worthwhile one for those awaiting this update. Please and thank you in advance for all reviews and PMs [and your patience]. …And now, let's return to Kim's current sitch-in-progress. What will Superman decide to do about the red-headed stranger who has just saved him and his cousin after apparently breaking through an unbreakable shield? What would you do in his place?)

Kim Possible and her friends and enemies © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Superman and his friends and enemies © DC Comics

The teen adventuress continued to wait patiently waited for the Man of Steel's final decision regarding the "Luthor Shield". As she did so, she made a decision of her own: what to do if Superman pressed the "shield off" button. With the very few seconds of free action left to her, she would speak her "last words" into the communicator: "Wade, do not push the retrieve button; call Mom and let her know that the JLA is holding me 'after school' in detention, and I'll be a little late. Tell her I trust the superheroes to do the right thing eventually, and I don't want you or Mom to worry. After all, I'll have Wonder Woman as a chaperone. So not the drama-bye, Wade, signing off…" She would then gently hand the Multiversal Kimmunicator to the Man of Steel with the calmly spoken words "please don't break this, sir; it's my only way home now…"

Kim, of course, hoped desperately that she would not need to give that "farewell speech"; there was no way of estimating how long she would be detained, and no certainty whether the JLA would decide to ever let her go. At the very least, it would greatly complicate her plans to complete her six-sitch grand tour before Ron and Felix called Wade about her delayed arrival at Felix's, and that could lead to something that would indeed be "so the drama". As she continued to think about that and related sitches, Kim realized that she had unconsciously begun to repeat a four word phrase over and over in a sub-whisper: "…please and thank you…" She was not totally certain whether or not she intended it for the two metahumans nearest her or for One whose own abilities relegated even the metahumans to her own "merely human" level of existence. She quickly decided that it was probably best not to limit her target audience-help from any quarter would be very welcome at this point.

As she continued her own near-silent mantra/prayer, Kim also suddenly noticed that, as Superman continued his consideration of her request and his scanning of her and Luthor and his repeated glancing at his cousin, he had started to move his lips. She realized with a start that he was speaking in a voice too low for her or her equally human adversary to hear, but not beyond the ability of multiple metahumans or tech-enhanced heroes and superheroes. However, unlike Luthor, she was perfectly positioned to use her lip-reading skills to decipher the unhearable.

Kara…Diana…Batman…what do you think I should do? Diana…Batman…can you hear what she's saying over and over? I…think…we should…wait one moment…young lady, can you lip-read?"

Kim's eyes locked with the Man of Steel's own, and she slowly nodded her head in response. As she did so, she began to put extra emphasis on the word "please", and began to do something she would not have even briefly considered only a short time before. In a matter of moments, the last Son of Krypton found himself receiving the full intensity of a Kim Possible Puppy Dog Pout. In its own way, it was if someone had exposed him to a new version of kryptonite, one that affected the mental and emotional aspects of a Kryptonian instead of the physical aspect.

"Kara…look…at…her…Kara…what…do…you..think?" asked her cousin, still super-whispering.

Briefly glancing at the auburn teenager, Kara also found herself strongly affected by the PDP. In addition, she already felt great sympathy for her rescuer and was already inclined to support any reasonable request that she made. Besides,….

"Kal, we were a few minutes from death before she appeared on that slight mound over there" started Supergirl, motioning with her right hand toward the nearby rise upon which the blanketed kryptonite still rested, and now speaking loud enough for both Kim and Lex to hear her. "I think we owe her at least a few more minutes in return. After all, you'll still have the shield control in hand, and if you don't feel that things are moving in the right direction, you can always push the button then."

Kim noted that Superman seemed to be silently considering Kara's opinion, but she realized that he was also probably processing sub-audible inputs from those just outside the shielded area. She briefly imagined a cacophony of "votes": "Give her some time", "No, let us in now, she can tell us what she wants to later", "She just saved the two of you; a few minutes isn't too much to ask for in return", "No", "Yes", "Just a few more won't hurt anyone", "You might want Wonder Woman and her lasso there when she starts talking", "No way, she can't be allowed to call the tune, no matter what she's just done". What she could not imagine, though, was what the superhero in front of her would finally decide about her request.

Kim then suddenly recognized a change in his expression as he looked directly at her and both of their eyes locked on each other: he had made his decision.

Superman slowly moved the shield control remote until it was directly between Kim and him, and just slightly below the direct line of sight of their eyes, but still clearly viewable by Kim. He apparently wanted her to have a definitive non-verbal response that was fully unambiguous. His thumb was still hovering over the "deactivate" button; he obviously wanted her to fully appreciate whatever action he was about to take regarding her request, as well as the gravity of the situation she was now in.

"PLEASE and thank you…PLEASE and thank you…PLEASE and thank you…" Kim had rarely felt so helpless, and she had begun to realize that she had maintained the PDP for so long that it was actually starting to cause her facial muscles to ache and tire. She could not hold the PDP much longer, but she also realized that, either way, she would not have to: she somehow sensed that the hovering thumb was about to move. The only question still remaining was about the direction it would take when it did.

The Last Son of Krypton slowly took his thumb away from the button. With an extremely faint smile appearing on his still largely serious face, he nodded his head and spoke to the redheaded teen, who had disengaged both her mantra and PDP as soon as the Kryptonian thumb had made its move.

"You can have a few more minutes, young lady, but just a few…After all, Luthor is not the only crisis this world must deal with. And I trust you fully understood the caveats embedded in Supergirl's support for your request."

"I'd do my best to make sure you won't regret your decision, Sir, and I understand you can press "OFF" at any time if you feel the time is not being used productively enough." Kim said quickly, relieved that her "Goodbye, Wade" signoff was now off the table, at least for the moment.

But before the teen hero could say anything more, a very confused Lex Luthor asked a question of his own female captor.

"But… But…How?"asked Lex Luthor of the Maid of Steel. "How did you and he beat me once again? How?"

"Well, first off, Lex, he and I didn't" answered Kara. "The redheaded girl you just twice tried to kill did. You see, that was no ordinary blanket that she wrapped up your kryptonite meteorite rock in; it has so much lead in it that it's completely opaque to my x-ray vision. I'd guess that it's cutting off from 90 to 95% of the deadly radiation coming from your would-be Kryptonian murder weapon. Isn't that right, cousin?"

"Pretty close to 94%, I would think, Kara; just enough to take it from deadly to extremely irritating. Or, rather, slightly nauseating instead of deathly sick. And as soon as our friends get in here to pick up Luthor's package of death and take it away to a thickly lead-lined vault, we'll be feeling even better."

"I understand now." admitted a dejected Luthor. "I just never knew that there was a third Kryptonian on Earth. While I was distracted by you two dying in front of me, she somehow flew through my protective shield with that lead blanket and covered the kryptonite while I was berating you and your cousin and enjoying what I thought was my final victory over you."

Luthor paused for a moment before continuing, still puzzling over a mystery he could not solve himself. "What I don't understand is why she just stood there to let you seize me instead of doing it herself after dodging my attack? Why not do it all herself and single-handedly defeat me? Does she think I'll be any less deadly towards her when next we meet because she didn't take me down herself and humiliate me even further?"

Before Supergirl could even attempt a response to Luthor's query, Kim jumped in with her own.

"Mr. Luthor, I am so not a Kryptonian." began his newest adversary. "Not that there's anything wrong with being one, of course", she added, smiling briefly at the two who were. "You know, sir, I just really wish you would let your otherwise brilliant mind warm to the concept that if these two were all that you said they were, you wouldn't be here to have this conversation with me, and I wouldn't be here using my mad cheerleader skills to help them ou—"

"Cheerleader? No,..never,… I just don't believe it. You're a cyborg, or you're a by-product of CADMUS that somehow escaped my notice; I refuse to believe that I've just been bested by an empty-headed bimbo whose ONLY other claim to fame is to be able to encourage hormone-filled teen athletes to pummel their opposite numbers on the other team."

Kim, bemused a bit by Luthor's sexist ranting, tilted her head a bit to the left. "What an excellent example of a stereotypical male chauvinist pig", she thought to herself before responding in a determined but civil manner.

"Look, sir, I'm not an empty-headed bimbo. My father is a rocket scientist and my mother is a brain surgeon. My young brothers are truly major irritants most of the time, but even I have to admit they rock when it comes to inventing things. And although I am not in their league, I do manage to get straight A's in all my courses…."

Luthor could stand it no more. Before she could say one more word, he loudly yelled a question at her.

"Who in blazes are you, and what hero or superhero team do you belong to?"

Kim was momentarily confused, since she thought she was already answering the first part, and the importance of the second part seemed to elude her. But then, she noted the reactions of Superman and Supergirl to Luthor's interjection: even as they were caught by surprise at his outburst, both Kryptonians actually nodded their heads in agreement with it; they, too, were interested in knowing the name of their rescuer, and who, if anyone, she was associated with.

"Oh well, I guess I have been a bit remiss in the area of introductions" mused Kim in her own mind. "But I do wonder what will happen if anyone actually recognizes me when I give them what they want? Only one way to find out, I guess…"

Kim nodded her head briefly, and then gave her immediate audience of three a partial bow. Although a purist might say a curtsey was more appropriate, Kim would have been very unlikely to do so even in a dress, and any thought of doing that action in her mission gear was completely off the table. As it was, they were likely to doubt her sanity as she began to explain things, and she didn't need to start off by even appearing to be a "little off".

"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess we haven't been properly introduced; please accept my deepest apologies, Mr. Luthor. My name is Kimberly Anne Possible. I guess you could say that I'm with Team Possible, although I normally don't really think of it that way. You see, it's usually just Ron, Rufus, and me in the field, with Wade helping us from his computer room. After all, I'm just an average girl, and I'm normally out to save my world." Kim paused briefly before resuming her answer.

"But, today is a special day, and I'm on a really special mission, and today I'm here to save your world. Or rather, save the three of you, if I can."

"The three of us?" asked Luthor, even more puzzled than before.

"Yes, sir; Supergirl, Superman, and you." Kim paused again, then resumed.

"Now, I admit that saving the first two of the three was fairly straightforward with the lead blanket, and that the third 'save' was more subtle. But ask yourself this, Mr. Luthor: If I hadn't arrived and stopped you from killing them, how long do you think you would have survived after Wonder Woman arrived here, right where I'm standing now, soon after your super-shield finally was overwhelmed by the efforts of everyone out there?" inquired Kim, as she motioned to the referenced shield and the metahumans and humans just outside said shield.

"After all, your otherwise impressive titanium steel knives that you tried to kill me with would be nothing against her Amazonian bracelets, and in her nearly insane rage at what you had done to her two friends, coupled with her warrior justice, do you truly doubt that you would be joining your two victims on the ground, possibly minus your heart, which would probably be still beating for a few more times in her bloody hand?"

Kim paused for a moment, letting her words sink into Lex's mind, and then she continued before he could respond.

"After all, there would be no Man of Steel to stay her Amazonian hand, and no Kryptonian teenager to plead for restraint. And, even if she did somehow keep herself from doing what she wanted to do to you, what about another person whose rage might even exceed her own? Killing Supergirl might have pushed Raven over the edge, and you have any doubt on what the daughter of Trigon could do to you before even Wonder Woman could stop her?"

But Luthor was ready with an answer of his own.

"They wouldn't dare harm me; their friends would turn against them, and the world would see them for what they truly are!" countered Lex, defiantly.

Kim quickly responded to Luthor's claim, slowly beginning to wonder whether the real Lex Luthor was really as brilliant as the comic books of her own reality made him out to be.

"But that's only true if they're still thinking rationally after you ripped out their hearts figuratively; I'm not sure anyone, including them, are convinced that rage itself is at all logical."

"And afterwards, they might indeed deeply regret their actions. Wonder Woman might exile herself forever as self-punishment for what she had done, and Raven may have gone completely catatonic after her actions, imprisoned within herself for eternity, but that would have been far too late to do you any good, Mr. Luthor."

"She's right, Lex, either Diana or Raven could indeed do that if they ever lost control." Supergirl acknowledged. "In fact, Lex, Raven was just telling me last week when I was visiting her at the Teen Titans tower, that she was always fearful that she would lose control of her emotions, and hurt someone, either friend or foe, if that ever happened. She even said that she appreciated my own self-restraint whenever Beast Boy acted like a jerk in front of me, and I didn't just toss him out through the open window, but that I just let him go back to watching his silly cartoons…"

Supergirl's voice suddenly trailed off, and she stared at her teen rescuer as if she was really seeing her for the very first time.

"Kara, what's wrong?" asked her concerned cousin.

Kal, it's…it's…Impossible!

Kim smiled at the Kryptonian teenager. She realized that the Last Daughter of Krypton had just made the connection between her mysterious rescuer and one of Beast Boy's favorite diversions, animated adventures on cable or satellite TV.

And now, a disbelieving Supergirl was trying to come to grips with the concept that she and her cousin had just been saved by an imaginary character, a figment of somebody else's imagination, yet who was now as real as any flesh and blood character she had met since her arrival on the Planet Earth. Her x-ray vision clearly saw Kim's human bones, flesh, and blood. The heroine in front of her was definitely not comprised instead of paper and ink. But how could it be?...

Kim took pity on the stunned Kryptonian teen, and tried to help her out a bit, but in a way that seemed to be intent on pulling her deeper into the mental quicksand, for a little while longer, at least.

"No, it's Kim Possible, but you're not the first to make that mistake. By the way, I usually don't use my full first name, it is way too formal. And if you say the informal version too fast, it may come out sounding differently; you might even lose the 'K'…"

Unfortunately, this exchange failed to jar Kara out of her near-catatonic state. Lex Luthor first got more and bewildered as the situation persisted, and then also began to consider whether he could somehow use her current condition to his advantage.

Superman himself was more than little confused himself about what was happening. Only Luthor's increasingly befuddled look re-assured Kal-El that he had nothing to do with Kara's condition. He then chose to take a more direct approach to get to the bottom of things.

"Kara, Ms. Possible, could one of you please explain what's going on? Kara, do you know this young woman?"

When Supergirl remained speechless, Superman turned back to the redheaded teenager.

"Would you care to explain? Please and thank you?" Superman added, hoping that using her own phrase back at her might help encourage her to explain something that his cousin apparently could not.

Kim smiled broadly at the Man of Steel, and his use of one of her favorite phrases.

"Yes, of course, Superman, I'll be happy to explain. After all, it's why I asked for a little more time. But first, a quick apology to your cousin is in order."

Kim turned back to the Maiden of Steel before resuming.

"I'm sorry, Supergirl, I did not mean to 'freak you out'; I guess I really should have explained myself more thoroughly when I mentioned 'my world' and 'your world' earlier…"

"YOUR world….MY world" whispered Kara to herself, nodding her head to re-assure her cousin that she was beginning to adjust to the truths of this impossi-, er, extremely improbable and incredible development. She wondered how he would handle what she was only now coping with when Kim clarified things for the "cartoon illiterate" (or was it only the "Non Beast Boy" contingent?)?

"Well, Ms. Possible, Luthor did interrupt you at that point with his question, and got us all a little off track", responded Superman, in a sympathetic tone.

"True, Superman, but I still do owe you all an explanation of some sort regarding my origin, as well as explaining how I got through Mr. Luthor's seemingly impenetrable barrier."

Kim dropped to her knees, and with her right index finger drew a circle in the sandy soil. She looked up at the three natives of this current reality, and calmly asked "Do any of you ever remember reading a book called 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'?"

Both Superman and Supergirl responded at the same time with a "yes", while Lex Luthor became more and more perplexed by the track of the ongoing conversation.

The redhead briefly grinned, and then shaking her head sadly, commented, I guess you guys don't have the 'jinx' rule here; that's too bad..."

This time, all three, including Luthor, responded simultaneously: "What?"

Kim favored them with a longer lasting grin. "Well, where I come from, if two or more people say the same thing at the same time, one calls 'jinx', and the other person owes them a soda. Or a juice drink, possibly."

"What are you babbling about" demanded Luthor, frustrated, and getting more so by the moment.

"Take it easy, Lex" Supergirl advised. "Okay, Ms. Possible, I think I understand that rule. But, what about Flatland, and how does it apply to the current situation we're in?"

"Well, do you remember how Flatland was a two dimensional world, and they had houses that were either rectangular or circular?"

"Yes" responded Kara. "And you would open the door to get in, and then close it behind you, keeping all would-be visitors outside."

"That's correct. No inhabitant of 'Flatland' outside the circle could get in if the door to said circle was closed."

"Will you please just get to the point!" ordered Luthor. He really couldn't understand what a stupid book about an impossible and imaginary world had to do with that bimbo heroine somehow getting through his REAL super-shield, and he was beginning to think that the two Kryptonians were humoring the 'cheerleader' and her ramblings solely because they knew how much it would irritate him!

Supergirl shook her head sadly at Lex. Even captured, he acted like he was still in charge of everything. In direct contrast, she observed that their "guest" had not bristled at his interjection, but had merely smiled before responding to him.

"Of course, Mr. Luthor," Kim responded pleasantly. "Please carefully note, however, that this 'you cannot get in' rule applies only to inhabitants of Flatland itself. For three dimensional creatures, like you, Supergirl, Superman, or me, can enter through the third dimension like so" concluded Kim, placing her index finger at the center of the circle. "The two dimensional walls of the two dimensional universe pose no barrier to a third dimensional being. In a like fashion, I just entered through a dimension that your barrier wasn't blocking. That's all there was to it. So not the Mystery now, right?"

"But that's impossible!" countered Lex, angrily; he was not going to be lectured to or shown up by a girl who hadn't yet graduated from high school! "You see, MY shield countered not only the first three dimensions, but also the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh ones as well!"

"So even Mister Myxlptlk couldn't get through the barrier!" exclaimed Supergirl in amazement, with a trace of grudging admiration for her adversary. Luthor briefly looked at her and realized that her admiration was honest. If only he didn't consider her such a threat, perhaps he and she could someday….. But his anger quickly returned, and his gaze snapped back to the redheaded teenager, and he resumed his statement of denial.

"So even if you were a human looking hyper-dimensional creature of the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh dimensions, you couldn't have broken through my barrier using that analogy!"

"Well, Mr. Luthor," responded Kim, calmly, "my friend Wade found it was necessary to deal with 11 dimensions to get me a firm lock on your reality, and that was only for general targeting and stability purposes. Kim held up her Multiversal Kimmunicator to show the three natives the truth of her statement. So my analogy to Flatland and higher dimensions is still valid; you may have blocked magic and time travel, but you did not block me."

As the three listeners in front of her remained silent following her last statement, Kim continued with her explanation.

"So, you see, I am just an ordinary girl with three physical dimensions and one of time, just like you three. But this device permits me to open a doorway through one of the higher dimensions that connects my world and my reality, to your world and your reality.

"And what is the name of YOUR world?" asked Supergirl, before either Luthor or her cousin could do so.

Kim smiled; now things were about to get really interesting.

"The same as this one, we call our world 'Earth' just like you call this world 'Earth'. You see, Supergirl, other than the fact that I'm a cartoon in your world, and you are comic book character in mine, both of our worlds are remarkably similar. They both have the Moon as an orbital companion, and both exist in the solar system with the same number of planets. There are, of course, differences, some of them major. For example, our universe does not have a planet Krypton, even if only a destroyed one, and your universe probably does not have a Middleton High School, or if you do, it almost certainly does not have a 'Kimberly Anne Possible' as a cheerleading captain. Kim paused for a moment, and Superman took the opportunity to ask a question of his own to clarify something he had been thinking about.

"So you came to our world from yours through a 'higher-dimensions' doorway just to save the three of us?

"Actually, yes and no, Superman, but please let me explain further. Once I was here, I intended to help out a little during my visit by saving you and your cousin from kryptonite poisoning, and Mr. Luthor from the possible wrath of your friends or his fellow humans. But my initial plan, before adding the 'helping out' part, was to simply to show myself and Wade that I could leave my own world at my own volition using my Multiversal Kimmunicator, travel to an alternate reality, visit for a little bit, and then safely return to my own world. The real important part, however, was the reason for my decision that I needed to be able to demonstrate this multiversal travel capability."

Luthor interrupted her when she paused for a moment before she could continue.

"That's obvious!" he barked at her. "You wanted to lord it over all the creatures of the lower dimensions, and show up all the others of your own higher reality who were working on the same thing as you and this 'Wade' by being the first of your world to do so! You had to be the first and the best! You're just like me, no matter your protestations to the contrary!

Kara thought Kim looked a bit stunned by Lex's words, and then saw Kim's smile return as she responded to his statements: "So not the truth, Mr. Luthor….so not the truth, in the least."

"The truth is that there is no 'race' on my world to do this first, and I've already told you once that I'm no higher dimensional being than you are. The reason for my need to go 'Multiversing' is actually tied to the fact that I am just an average girl, with all the pluses and minuses that go with that truth. The basic reason is a very personal one…"

Kim took a deep breath, and then forged onward.

"You see, a little over a month ago I almost lost my best friend boyfriend to yet another alternate reality that he'd been thrown into by an explosion of what we in our world called a 'pan dimensional vortex inducer'. Now, we had already had trouble with this device and alternate realities once before, when my arch-nemesis and his partner/sidekick had accidentally thrown all of us into what we thought at the time were actual cable television shows. That time, Wade got us all out of there without too much trouble, although at the time it did not seem all that easy."

"The second time, however, that is, last month, he couldn't get Ron back when he retrieved the rest of us, and we thought we lost him…forever…" Kim paused again for a moment, and then continued when she realized that all three of her listeners were following her closely without any questioning looks.

"However, Wade did eventually find out where he had been sent to, and with a little help from two of our enemies, Wade and I finally got Ron back with us for good. And it was so very good to have Ron back in my arms again." Kim paused, and checked yet again with her listeners, and then resumed to finish her explanation.

"But that second-time rescue was so close to a non-rescue that I feared a third time would NOT be the charm. I convinced Wade to investigate the PDVI unit and develop a device from that technology that would allow me to go to any other reality and get my boyfriend, my parents, or anyone else in my world, from any world or other reality that they had been thrown into or pulled into."

"The cable television shows?" asked Supergirl before Kim could continue. "You and the other humans were actually thrown into electronic signals of the cable television shows? Does that mean at one point you were only electronic signals yourself?"

"That does seem incredible", commented Superman, "although I am used to some metahumans who could do that sort of thing, like Livewire."

"Well, sir, to be honest," replied Kim, "during the course of our development of this Multiversal Kimmunicator device, we discovered that it was more likely that we were sent into alternate realities that closely resembled the cable television shows. Wade was able to develop a better targeting device method by going with the idea that I threw at him that the cable television writers of our world had picked up some thoughts or images from the real universes and were inspired to draw up cable television shows that echoed the these universes; well enough, indeed, to act as a targeting or focusing point for the PDVI to send us into the actual universes, much like I'm here in yours now."

"For you see, in the world I almost lost my Ron in, both you and I are imaginary characters; the people of that world think we're both just cartoons or comic book characters; to them, we are the cable television shows, and if they had their own PDVI malfunction like our first one, they could be thrown in here, and think that they were in an episode of the Justice League Adventures, not another reality that was real as they were!…. And you would all be wondering where they had come from until their 'Wade' could pull them back to their own reality…"

"I've had just about enough of this nonsense", Luthor growled, "why don't you just go back to your make-believe world, and let these two Kryptonians take me to prison!"

"I'm afraid that I might have to agree with Lex on this one," concurred Supergirl, "although your origin story is a really fascinating one, and I appreciate you attempting to satisfy our curiosity."

"And I'm afraid that I might have to make it unanimous, although my super-hearing is indicating that some of our friends out there would like to hear more on this matter." added a still somewhat sympathetic Man of Steel.

"NO!" thought Kim. "Not yet! I need just a little more time!" she told herself. "I didn't really want to do this again so soon, but it looks like I've got no choice…." Kim steeled herself to attempt the impossible one more time, and kick it up a notch at the same time, if she could.

"Then could you just give me one or two more minutes? Please and thank you!" Added Kim, as she gave the Last Son of Krypton her most intense PDP ever. At this heightened level, her facial muscles would begin to tire after an only a minute or two, especially since they still recovering from the previous unprecedented work out. But there was simply no way around it; she just had to have enough time to give Lex Luthor one more shot at changing his destiny.

Superman surrendered to the teenager's Ultimate Red(hair)/Green(eyes) Kim-tonite PDP broadcast within 15 seconds. However, he was, after all, still the Man of Steel, and his capitulation came with a condition, a question for the victorious teenager.

"Okay, Ms. Possible, you have one or two more minutes, but only after you explain what you just tried to do with that expression and the tamer version you displayed earlier today?" Superman had to admit to himself a second time that the expression was, in its own way, as powerful as Luthor's kryptonite; even without considering his friends beyond the barrier, he would have been hard-pressed to ignore the young woman's plead for one more extension of time.

"Exactly what you just gave me, a little more time to plead my case. In my world, the expression is more commonly known as a 'puppy dog pout'; I'm sure you have seen some dogs in this reality that just silently beg you for a bone or piece of meat with a similar look on their faces. In my own reality, until recently, it was almost 100% of the time irresistible. But, now, in some ways, it is losing its effectiveness; perhaps as I'm growing up and being less and less of the little girl that my mom and dad love so much, I can't always pull off the innocent intent as well as I used to." Kim paused, inhaled deeply, and began to summarize.

"The bottom line is that before Wade began to work on this new device for me, we came to an agreement about its use, as well as constraints and limitations on our efforts in this manner."

"I can only use this device, the Multiversal Kimmunicator, six times, to visit six universes other than our own reality, with the last one being the universe I almost lost my boyfriend in. After visiting a given universe, I must return to my home universe before beginning my next trip out. If he chooses to, my friend can terminate this six universe checkout at any time. It also agreed that after successfully completing this six universe checkout to prove that the Multiversal Kimmunicator is working as expected, it is to be retired from active duty until or unless Ron or someone else from my world needs to be rescued from yours or someone else's reality."

"My visit here then, as nice as it has been, is a one-shot deal; I will not be coming back ever again. Not… Ever… Again." Kim took another deep breath.

"So I have to do what I can, here and now, to try and make sure that my little rescue today does not turn out to be just a case of me delaying the inevitable." Kim hated ending on that note, but that was how the sitch sat, as sour as it was.

"Delaying…the…inevitable…?" questioned the Maid of Steel, fearful of what that phrase implied. "You mean that eventually Lex will…..?"

"Succeed, and there will be a dead Supergirl, or a dead Superman, or a pair of dead Kryptonians, followed closely by a dead Lex Luthor. I may not be able to do anything that can really stop that dark day, but I have to try, and I have to try now. Mr. Luthor, can I ask you a question?" queried the redhead teenager, turning back to the scowling super-criminal.

"Go ahead, cheerleader, but I won't guarantee you an answer."

"Fair enough, sir. But please tell me this if you can: If both of these people are as bad as you think they are, why do you think they haven't killed you already?"

"Simple, you empty-headed teen; it's for the same reason why I doubted that either Wonder Woman or that Raven girl would do what you thought they would do if I had succeeded today. The world would see them finally for what they were: a threat to the world that I always claimed they were!"

"And would you rethink that if I could show you how they could deal with that problem without the world ever suspecting? I mean, if an empty-headed teen cheerleader like me I could think of this fool-proof plan, wouldn't they be able to do the same? After all, even if they're not as smart as you are, they certainly have to be a lot smarter than yours truly, right?"

"Obviously!" snarled an increasingly enraged Luthor.

"OK, here we go. What if, on one of my rescue missions in space as that third Kryptonian you thought I was earlier, I took the time to redirect an asteroid towards earth, on a very specific trajectory? And what if I'd make sure that I was in the opposite side of the world when this asteroid came crashing down on Earth. Say that I and my fellow Kryptonians were busy rescuing the people at Mount Fuji from some local crisis that I had covertly instigated just for the purpose when this redirected asteroid crashes into Metropolis, almost directly on top of the Luthor Corp building, resulting in a crater ¼ mile wide."

"I, and they, then race back as fast as we can, and do our part to help all those who survived, but may be injured by, that terrible event. Then again, I might just stay behind to continue assisting the Mount Fujians, and let Superman and Supergirl do all the heavy lifting in Metropolis . After all, I wouldn't want to risk the possibility of a news camera catching me with even a brief smile at the site of such an obvious disaster in Metropolis, no matter how much I enjoyed my work."

"Of course, there's nothing left of the Luthor Corp building or its most famous inhabitant. Then we have the Man of Steel in an interview with a reporter, possibly Lois Lane, discussing the tragedy after completing all of the rescue efforts. He is weeping openly at the thought of not having been able to save more people, even the life of a long-time adversary like you. Supergirl is also crying about how she'll miss you, even though you did nothing to her but try to kill her and demean her. She'll tell a reporter how she always hoped that you'd finally turn over a new leaf and stop being a criminal. She might even sheepishly admit that she would have been honored to have been asked out by you to attend a charity event. Then she would collapse in tears again, saying 'but that can never be now', then following up with a pledge to work with Batman and the other superheroes to improve the systems on the Justice League satellite to better scan for asteroids and other space debris to give them more warning in the future. She'll go on to say that she and her cousin will live with this dark day for the rest of their lives, and that they will spare no effort to make sure that no one else suffers the fate of the late Lex Luthor did. In short, your death will serve to help far more people than you ever did in life, but she will conclude it all by saying that she really wished that you were still here."

Kim then took a deep breath, and spoke a line that she thought might really touch the super-criminal right where he was most sensitive.

"Of course, at that point Superman steps up next to her, and, with his arm pulling her close to him in a show of support and first-cousin love and affection, reaffirms his commitment as well that Lex Luthor shall not have died in vain: 'After all, even a criminal should be protected from the fate that befell my archenemy today. How much more so is this true for those thousands of innocents who were killed or injured in this great tragedy? Even Supergirl and I cannot bring back the dead, but we will do our utmost from this day forward to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. I pledge that we will do our best to protect all the people of Earth, and we'll work with all our fellow heroes and superheroes around the world and on the Justice League satellite to ensure that that promise is kept. I never knew how Supergirl felt about Lex Luthor, but I had always hoped he would someday change and become my ally instead of my foe. Alas, now that can never be, and I will always mourn 'what might have been'. Goodbye, Lex, we'll miss you in ways you can never imagine. Farewell, old foe…. ' "

"And then he'll squeeze Supergirl's shoulder a bit, and she will return the gesture with her arm around his waist, and they will both give a faint smile to the audience that is watching them. To everyone else it will be just two caring cousins helping each other over a very hard time and a very bad day, but it will also be because they are realizing they can finally start that colony plan you gave them the idea for so long ago…." Kim concluded her speech, feeling bad about what she might have put the two Kryptonians through just now, but realizing that this was the only way to hopefully make Luthor "see the light". She also had no doubt that some of those beyond the shield might also have been discomfited by her little dark plan exposition, but again, this was not about them. It was all about Lex Luthor and how his future intentions could affect the entire world, and Kim's own intention to have the super criminal finally realize the truth that he had so long ignored, so that she could possibly divert him from doing anything more deadly in the future that would indeed affect all of them and their entire world forever.

"Well, Mr. Luthor, what do you think of my humble offering?" Kim then smirked at Luthor, silently challenging him to refute any part of her plan.

There was no answer from the super-criminal; however, it appeared obvious that he was seriously examining every facet of her imaginative tale for some flaw or defect in what seemed on the surface to be a fool-proof plan. Could the man who had always thought he could do everything he put his mind to figure out what was wrong with the plan offered by someone he had called a little earlier a bimbo and an empty-headed cheerleader?

Kim tried to wait patiently for some response from Luthor, but she, better than anyone, knew that time was running out for everyone, both in this sitch, and back in her home universe. She hoped that she would not have much longer to wait before she could continue on and complete her first mission in this first of six multiverses, and move onto the next one after first returning home to Wade's room.

Kim quietly, but desperately, feared that time was not on her side, and that Superman's reluctantly granted extension of time would soon run out.

And what would she do then?...

****To Be Continued****

Kim Possible © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the others with them © DC Comics

"Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" was written by Edwin A. Abbott in our universe, and Kim and I both know better than to risk plagiarism of either the pan-dimensional or conventional form (if KP's own universe and her "first sitch" alternate reality each had an AU E.A. Abbott who wrote something similar on the topic).

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same.


	6. Chapter 6

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 6:

Sitch 1 World: Intervention's End

(Special Cautionary/Explanatory A/N to the Reader: This chapter is over 17K words; after much consideration and introspection regarding the matter, I have decided to keep this third and last chapter of Sitch 1 World "as is", and dedicate it to the person who really put the "Grande" in Grande-sizing: Ronald "Ron" Stoppable, Kim's best friend boyfriend, who is the reason why our plucky redhead is multiversing in the first place….. [by the way, the honoree will indeed be making an non-cameo appearance before this story reaches its finish, but the details involving his "arrival" must remain with me for now].

Well, time is steadily running out as Kim waits for Lex Luthor's response to her question, both in Luthor's own universe and back in her own universe. Just how much more time is Superman willing to allow a redheaded invader from another reality to complete the mission that only she fully understands, even if she is also the same one who saved him and his cousin from near-certain death at the hands of Lex Luthor himself? And will Lex Luthor finally understand what Kim is trying to show him? And what will our teenage heroine do if he refuses to accept the truth? And, most important of all [to this author at least], will you, dear reader, enjoy what follows the end of this note? Thanks in advance to all who choose to post a review or send a PM.)

Kim Possible and her friends and enemies © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Superman and his friends and enemies © DC Comics

As Kim continued to wait patiently for some response from Luthor, a discussion between her inner selves began. However, only an experienced telepath could have perceived the turmoil that was occurring within her. Once again, to an uninformed observer, she seemed to be just collecting her thoughts, possibly regarding her potential replies to Luthor's own response when he chose to finally offer it.

"How much longer must we wait for Mr. Genius?" asked the very frustrated Action Girl facet of the heroic teen.

"We must just be patient, Action; the sitch is what the sitch is."

"So just be patient?" asked Action Girl. "But for how much longer? We've already been waiting for a whole 15 seconds!"

Balancer smiled at her other selves.

"We'll wait for as long as it takes…After all, we can do anything…."

"By the way, speaking of that, how did you ever think of that nasty plan for Mr. Luthor?" Inquired the Chagrinned self of the Balancer self. "I'd have to admit it's a very good one, though, assuming you were really a dark Kryptonian as you proposed to be at the start of your little tale."

"Better than a good one" countered the Action Girl facet. "I thought it was an excellent one for achieving the goal you stated at the start of it. The only question I had was how you managed to channel the darkness of Luthor himself that was obviously essential to pulling off a plausible explanation of the proposed Luthor assassination attempt?"

"You don't really know?" Asked the Balancer facet of a girl named Kim Possible, who herself wondered if she was about to experience a TMI moment with her two other facets when she informed them.

"No" answered the others simultaneously.

"Jinx, you both owe me a soda!" exclaimed the balancer self.

"Huh?" said the others, again simultaneously.

"I know, I know, the Jinx rule only applies out there, and not in here with us" admitted the balancer self to the other two facets with a slight chuckle. "But I just couldn't resist at least trying it out anyway; if you could only see your own expressions!"

This time the other two said nothing, but waited for the balancer to explain herself.

"Well, guys, remember our little fight with Shego? Chagrinned Girl, do you remember how you kept Action Girl from hitting Shego even harder than she did when she kicked her into the tower during the climax of that Diablo Robot Incident?"

"Yes, of course I did. You were very upset with what Drakken had done with Eric, and how we had fallen for him as a real boyfriend, the best we had ever had up to then. Action wanted to give Shego some real payback for her enjoying our distress at having been fooled by Eric's great acting ability, and you were encouraging her to do so as much as she could, but I realized that if Action hit her as hard as she wanted to, Shego would never get up again, not ever! She would be…would be…" Chagrinned Girl was unable to complete the thought.

"Dead?" asked the Balancer calmly.

"Yes." admitted Chagrinned, reluctantly. "And we don't kill our enemies, even when they're trying to kill us, no matter what we otherwise will do to stop them and their plans. We must never, ever become that dark! Otherwise, we'll become just like them!"

"That's correct, completely correct. But a follow-up question arises: how did you recognize Action's and my own dark intents so that you could hold us back just enough to make sure that Shego suffered nothing much worse than frizzy hair and a full body ache that lasted a week or more as she healed?"

"I… I… I… "Chagrinned struggled to answer the question posed.

"Because you have a small portion of darkness within you as well."

"No I don't, I can't, it's just not right." responded Chagrinned, attempting to deny what she was coming to realize was the awful truth of the matter.

"Action and I also have a small portion of darkness within us, and it's foolish of any of us to try to deny that we need that small portion to survive."

"No, not true, not true!" stuttered Chagrinned, still in denial. "Kim Possible is not a dark person; she is not Shego!"

"That is true, but there is darkness within her, within us, all of us facets of her. The darkness within Action girl allows her to use force against other people when necessary; otherwise, we could never even give Shego a gentle bruising in our battles. Your fragment allows you to recognize it in either Action or me, and decide when it is time for some counteraction, literally countering Action and me as much as is needed to keep us from going overboard or crossing the line that we must never cross. My own fragment of darkness gives me a reference point to work with when I'm making judgments about maintaining a balance between the dark and the light. Too much light, and Shego will kill us. Too much dark, and we will kill Shego. With the right balance, though, we beat Shego without killing her, but leave her enough to remember us by and maybe rethink her choice of the line of work she's in…"

"So in the case of 'How I would kill Lex Luthor', you…" began Chagrinned.

"Temporarily channeled enough of the darkness present in all of us to successfully imagine a course of action that we would never actually do ourselves, but which Supergirl could do if she thought like Lex Luthor or was like a Dark Kim with superpowers. I thought like a dark version of ourselves, but did not become one. It was all a matter of maintaining the proper balance and control of the sitch…."concluded Balancer.

"But, isn't there a danger that if you/we think darkly too often, we could become a 'Dark Kim' …for…real?" questioned Chagrinned.

"Yes, it is possible that we could begin to like evil, like Shego did while she was still a hero with Team Go, and travel the same sad path as she did. So that's why we must always guard against dwelling on dark items for too long, and make sure that when we do channel them even briefly, it's to achieve a light objective."

"You mean like trying to make Mr. Luthor realize that Superman and Supergirl aren't really Earth's or his enemy?"

"Right, I just hope he realizes it soon, before Superman says 'time's up', shuts down the shield, and things get really crowded around here."

"Or before I run out of patience, and elbow you two out of the way, and do something really stupid" warned Action. Didn't the other two realize that she could not do "just sitting around or standing by"?

"Chagrinned and I won't let you through; this sitch is way too important to blow it now; we must be patient, no matter how much it tweaks all of us."

"All of us?"

"Just because I can force us to be patient with him as long as it takes to solve this sitch doesn't mean I'm enjoying it. The sitch is the sitch, and we must deal with it as best we can."

"So just be patient?" asked Action Girl. "But for how much longer? We've already been waiting for a whole 30 seconds!"

Balancer smiled at her other selves.

"We'll wait for as long as it takes…After all, we can do anything…."

Kim continued to wait patiently, her face retaining a trace of a smile, musing why the super-genius criminal was continuing to fail to acknowledge the validity of both the described scenario and the immediate conclusion that followed. How could he not make the connection? It was so the conundrum. How much longer would it be before he finally said something regarding her question?

One thing that Kim was certain of, however, was that she was ready for anything that Lex Luthor might offer as an attempt to respond to her question whenever he finally did so. Oh, if only he would finally do so!

Supergirl, however, responded first, after regaining control of the open mouth and dropped jaw that had occurred as Kim had given her little "what if" storyline.

"But Kim, we would never do something like that even if we could get away with it! You…you certainly don't think that I or Kal-El would ever…" Kara appeared as she was about to cry. After all, if even the person who had saved her from death thought she could possibly do that…

"Of course not, Supergirl!" reassured Kim, as firmly as she could. "I was just trying to get Mr. Luthor to realize how easily you and your cousin could pull it off IF you were really as bad as he keeps on saying you both are….."

"After, all, that image of a dark Supergirl is already embedded in Mr. Luthor's mind. I simply pulled it out of his mind and re-inserted it into my little story of 'what if'. I hoped that by feeding him something that he already believed, he would more easily receive enlightenment regarding what truly is the case. I am sorry for what it must have put you, your cousin, and our other listeners through, but I thought it vital that he hear what I had to say about the matter."

Supergirl saw that Kim's regret was sincere, and responded simply by quietly saying "I understand."

After a brief pause, however, the teenager from Krypton added a slightly less brief request to her rescuer from another world.

"But, please, let's not try doing that again anytime soon, okay? The trouble is, Kim, is that you are just too good a storyteller, and you somehow have a way of making the impossible seem all too possible…"

"Well, I guess that does come with the name" Kim responded. "Our family does have a motto that 'anything is possible for a Possible '. But I will try to behave myself going forward; I don't really wish to cause any of my friends any troubles, in any universe."

With bridges hopefully mended a bit on the "friends" front, Kim turned back to whom the story had been meant for. Had that part worked as well on him? Did he finally get it?

"Well, Mr. Luthor, how does that plan sound to you? Not too bad for something whipped up by an empty-headed bimbo cheerleader, right? Can you find any flaw in that plan, something that the Dark Knight or Wonder Woman or Mr. Terrific might just catch and realize that your death was no accident?"

Kim waited patiently for an answer, as did EVERYONE who had been following the all-too-plausible story presentation; everyone from the two contemplative Kryptonians in front of her to the little 'Kim Possible' fan in a family living room in Boise, Idaho, who shouted to her mother working in the kitchen.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! I think Kim Possible just stumped Lex Luthor with a question!"

"That's nice, dear. Mommy's busy right now. You just keep watching your cartoons until I call you for dinner later on…"

Lex Luthor, however, remained silent, as he desperately tried to think of something he could shout back at the increasingly irritating female, putting her down as adroitly as he did all others. Some flaw in her plan; anything for her to be refuted and her "plan" totally scrapped. But he could think of nothing, at least not now, that would prevent her plan from being put into place. Could it be that she was actually right about this, and that he, Lex Luthor, was wrong? Was it true that had the Kryptonians been the way the way he thought they were, he would have been dead in a meteorite strike, with not even the legendary Batman being the wiser?

Then Lex thought he saw an opening. "But that meteor strike would kill a lot of other people, and…"

Kim was ready for his "escape attempt". It was, after all, so obvious.

"…. And that would be 'acceptable' losses from their 'herd' of future servants. In fact, Mr. Luthor, it would make the 'cover story' even more believable. Some people might believe that Superman would take you out because you were a super-criminal and hated him and his cousin. But even they would not believe that he would kill innocent people who don't hate him and her to get to you. After all, they would reason that since you and Supergirl don't hate the people of Metropolis like they might hate or despise you, they would never have done that horror to those innocents; therefore they didn't have anything to do with it meteor/asteroid tragedy, and all would be well."

After a few more seconds of silence from the hairless man in front of her, Kim spoke again.

"Your move, Mr. Luthor." If Kim had been in a chess match, she could not have been more solemn or official looking than she did now. She did wonder, however, whether the brilliant genius in front of her would finally accept the truth of the matter, and in doing so, turn away from the path of death.

Meanwhile, most of the world was experiencing a most unusual sight. They'd seen the great and infamous Lex Luthor rant and rave many times before. Sometimes it was the beginning of an event where he promised that this time he would win against the Man of Steel or someone else. Sometimes it was during the event itself, as he explained how his brilliance had brought him to this point. And sometimes it was after the event had been foiled and he had been captured, and he was being taken away. Always ranting and raving, promising, explaining, or threatening "…next time, I will…"

But never had they seen him silent like this before, for this length of time, on this type of battlefield. And, when the silence was finally broken, it was not by a renewed rant and/or rave, but by a single word, repeated over and over again.

"No…No…No…" repeated Luthor. He knew that Kryptonians did not like him, and that they wanted to rule the earth. And using the additional cover of innocent humans to block any suspicion of proof of ill will against him was indeed brilliant. How could the stupid redhead have thought of it, unless….?

With THE TRUTH staring him in the face, Luthor turned away from it, and began instead a new verbal attack on the cheerleader, trying at the same time to embed his denial in yet another attack against those he KNEW were up to no good. He would turn the tables on them yet! And Lex Luthor charged ahead.

"Somehow, your plan eluded their alien minds! But now that you've told them about this perfect plan against me, it's only a matter of time before they implement it. I hope that you're happy for signing my death warrant!" Lex wondered how the redhead would respond to that, knowing that in any event that the world now could not help but see her for what she really was, as well!

"Come on now, Mr. Luthor!" Kim was affronted by the super-criminal's accusation, and was really starting to seriously doubt whether his genius extended beyond the "how to do evil things" category. How could he keep "missing the target"? Was he making a deliberate attempt to be stupid? It did not really matter, of course; she would keep her head in the game, regardless; they all deserved her best efforts at saving this sitch, if at all possible.

Kim continued her response, balancer in control, action girl in reserve, chagrinned girl urging extreme caution.

"Do you really expect the people outside the barrier and the rest of the world to believe that THIS simple red-haired cheerleader actually out-thought two superior alien creatures from a dead world, as well as the even more brilliant Lex Luthor?"

"It doesn't matter; now that you've given them the entire game plan, I'm sure even they can work out the details. Your hands are still bloody, you female fool!"

"On the contrary, Mr. Luthor! Don't you realize that you are now SAFER from any of that ever happening to you now that I've told them about how a rogue Kryptonian might do you in? Don't you realize that even now, as I speak, Batman, Wonder Woman and her fellow amazons, the science and tech-based heroes and superheroes, or even someone else currently on duty in the Justice League Satellite, is even now figuring ways of making sure that nothing from space EVER gets close to Metropolis, especially nothing that could ever do any real damage? And, right after taking care of the area around Metropolis, they'll extend this meteor/asteroid/space junk watch upgrade globally so that no city on earth will have anything fall on it that is bigger than a baseball?"

Kim paused, but just for a moment; she realized that she was running out of time, and she had to make every second count.

"And, Mr. Luthor, they are not going to do all this because they really think that Superman, Supergirl, or any other hero or superhero would actually try this trick either before or after I've mentioned it here. No, they are going to do it, and do it right away, because they realize that, after my speech, which, after all, did go out to the entire world, as well as to you three here and their friends just outside the shield, any natural asteroid or meteor hit from here on will be suspected by at least some observers to be a result of some outside intervention."

"What?" Luthor was certain that he had the cheerleader on the ropes again with his verbal attack and accusations, but she had once again dodged deftly out of the way in the verbal arena, just as she had earlier dodged his first knife. He now knew only one thing for certain: whatever else she was, that blasted teenager could not be 'just an average' girl.

But before Kim could respond to Luthor, Superman interrupted her, his face showing what could only be described as astonishment.

"Ms. Possible, I don't know how you knew this, but you're absolutely correct. Batman says he's already working on that issue, and is even working with the Justice League Satellite personnel on an immediate upgrade to cover this hemisphere today. He also says that Wayne Industries has already volunteered to assist in quickly building a monitor satellite that will cover the other hemisphere that we cannot see directly from the JL Satellite. Within a week or two at the most, Earth will be protected from being hit unawares by anything bigger than…a baseball."

Kim smiled briefly at Luthor, with her expression silently telling him "you see, I told you so". Luthor wanted to verbally lash out at either her or the male Kryptonian, but no words came to mind. Superman might well lie about his intentions for the Earth, but he would never allow himself to be caught in a lie. And, with the whole world watching, and with at least some people in it willing to support Luthor in catching him in such a lie, the Man of Steel must actually be telling the truth in this case.

As Luthor dealt with this stunning realization, Superman then looked directly at Kim as she returned her gaze to him, with an expression that mixed confusion with what looked almost like the beginning of Kryptonian PDP. Kim wondered what question the Man of Steel was about to ask her that made him think he had to go to the PDP to get an answer from her. She did not have long to wait.

"Ms. Possible, you said that you had no superpowers, and that you were just an average girl. Then could you please tell me how did you know what Batman would be doing out there while you were in here?"

"So not the mystery, Superman; I simply knew the type of man the Batman was. He's a tireless crime fighter who will never let a criminal get away if he can help it, but he's also someone who will do whatever he can to make sure that nobody dies on his watch, not even a criminal like Mr. Luthor. And since he is possibly the world's greatest detective, and suspiciousness is at the top of his skill set, he probably foresaw the results of my speech before I even finished it, and well before Mr. Luthor began his verbal counterattacks on me. Besides, ineffective as those attacks may have been anyway, I believe that I appropriately addressed each of his points and issues raised."

Superman stood silent, digesting her response. It might have amused or shocked both Luthor and Superman if either had found out that like Luthor just before him, Superman also found himself wondering whether the young redheaded teen was indeed 'just an average' girl. She certainly did not appear to be out of the ordinary, but she was obviously doing very well in the situation that she found herself in, and there was obviously something about her that defied easy analysis.

With no further questions from Superman, Supergirl, or Lex Luthor apparently in the offing, Kim decided to move forward with her final challenge to the man in front of her. It did indeed seem to be now or never.

"Well, Mr. Luthor, I hope you realize now the truth of the statement I posed to you earlier. And we both know that my time here is limited. I realize that I've been trying the patience of Superman, Supergirl, and a good many others outside the barrier as we've discussed these items of interest and importance."

"So here's the bottom line in this Sitch, Mr. Luthor. I managed to keep you from killing Superman and Supergirl today, but I realize that you will someday try again and succeed if you are not somehow stopped. I then showed you how your alleged two arch-adversaries could have killed you without consequence if they were truly so inclined, and that, in turn, demonstrates that they're not the enemies or the threats that you thought they were, but you still stubbornly resist the truth of that conclusion."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Luthor, but it appears that no matter what I do to try to have you step off the path of destruction, you insist on pursuing a course of action that will almost certainly end in their and your deaths. Now, I may just be an average girl, but I find that a most unacceptable Sitch. However, I realize also that there appears to be nothing I can do to stop it; it seems that this is truly beyond my current skill set. It also seems that this is beyond everyone else's skill set on this world."

"So I can only do one thing now. I'm going to give you one last challenge, Mr. Luthor, a challenge that only you can do. I now realize that I can't do it. Your two companions here cannot do it. In fact, none of those waiting just outside the barrier, or anyone else in this whole universe, can do it. Truly, you, and only you, Mr. Luthor, can do it!"

"Just what are you blathering about, cheerleader? What is this challenge that only I can do?"

"Why, Mr. Luthor, change you from a super-villain to a superhero!"

Kim Possible, of course, could only see the three people in front of her drop their jaws as she answered Luthor's question. But had she had true superpowers, she would have seen practically everyone on the other side of the shield also react to her statement as well as any of those watching the Luthor broadcast of the Kryptonians' executions back before they had been stayed by a certain redheaded teenager. Had she just said what they thought she said?

Surprisingly enough, or maybe not so surprisingly, Luthor recovered first, and shot back at the teen.

"What the blazes are you talking about? Why would I ever want to turn into a superhero? What benefit would I get from that?"

"Well, for one thing, you would be able to get that 'I told you so' benefit. A lot of people probably doubt that you could do it; they would be very certain that this is one challenge that even the great Lex Luthor could not meet. After all, Mr. Luthor, do you think there is anyone out there, not just here or nearby, but anywhere, that thinks you could pull this off?"

"So, cheerleader, what is your point to all this?"

"Well Mr. Luthor, wouldn't you really enjoy proving everyone wrong on this? Imagine how much you could gloat when you did something that nobody, anywhere, thought you could. After all, you'd wind up with everyone saying: 'Sure, those Kryptonians can stop meteors, asteroids, alien invasions, and a lot of other things, but they could never get Lex Luthor to stop being a criminal; no, sir, he did it all on his own! Now that's a real SUPER achievement!'"

The teenager paused for a moment, and then continued.

"And while they and the other superheroes stop meteors, asteroids, and what-not, you can just busy yourself with the real important stuff: curing cancer and the common cold, repairing birth defects, and doing all the other things to help humanity to deal with challenges that are not as simple as earthquakes or typhoons, but which have a real significant impact on individuals throughout the world. Imagine, Mr. Luthor, how much you would enjoy irritating all the superheroes, present company included, when they hear your feats and achievements mixed in with their own. You know, like: 'well, Superman did save us from the tidal wave last week, but look at what Lex Luthor did with those new crops in Africa', or 'true, Supergirl did get Susan's cat out of the tree, but then Lex Luthor cured its mange overnight for only a few pennies out of Susan's small allowance, and she is so happy that it's not scratching itself anymore!'".

"In fact, Mr. Luthor, just imagine how much more fun you will have truly irritating everyone by staying away from crime when everyone suspects that you are going to go back to your old ways at any moment. They'll all be thinking that this whole thing is just an act, and you'll eventually slip up and do something. They'll be watching closely every moment of every day, and they will accomplish absolutely nothing with regards to catching the super-criminal Lex Luthor, since you won't be him anymore."

"And, even if you openly admitted to everyone that you're doing it on purpose just to be irritating, those superheroes will still not be able to do anything to you, since just being irritating is not a crime. Just imagine how frustrating it will be for even the Batman to be unable detect you doing a crime, and for him to be unable to prove anything, no matter how hard he tries, or how much time he spends on it."

"Just imagine all that, Mr. Luthor. You'll have the entire superhero committee working 24/7 to try to catch you in doing something wrong. That is, of course, whenever they're not doing the actual superheroing thing with disasters and the like. Of course they never will be able to catch you doing anything wrong; all that they can do is watch you receiving acclaim for all your achievements for the benefit of humanity. They see you doing things that they cannot do themselves, despite all the things they do that no one else can do. Just think how frustrated they will be as more and more of the population comes around to seeing you as a hero, not a villain, and eventually, as a superhero instead of a super-villain. Little kids may still look up to Superman and Supergirl and the other superheroes for all the heroic things they do, but they'll look up to you as something to aspire to when they grow up. More and more of the new generation will tell others they hope to become like you, and do all those wonderful things for others like you're doing."

"And as time goes on, and your misdeeds of the past become more and more ancient history, you and those heroes will find that instead of being on the public's 'enemy number one' list or the 'man we most like to hate' list, you might even be thought well by some people who couldn't believe that they would ever think well of you! Just think of all the pleasure you'd get from knowing you had everyone on the ropes without really putting anybody on the ropes. And wouldn't you really enjoy having the chance to tell Supergirl 'No', if she ever comes to ask you to please do something wrong, even if it is only jaywalking across the street, just so she could finally take you to jail for something, no matter how small or petty?"

Luthor decided that was time to throw something back at the cheerleader again, but in a more a gentle manner this time.

"Well, cheerleader, what if she gets upset enough about that to want to kill me?"

"But Mr. Luthor, don't you realize that she can't do that, even if she wanted to? If they can't justify killing you because you try to kill them, how could they justify killing you because you're just irritating them or frustrating them. In the end, they would just have to live with it, no matter what? Don't you realize, Mr. Luthor, that they would be powerless to stop you, truly powerless? You would effectively have more power over them then you ever did before you changed yourself from a bad guy to a good guy! And they could not possibly do anything about it without revealing who they 'truly were' and giving you the evidence you always thought you could get someday about their true intent."

Lex then decided to try another subtle tactic on the redheaded teen.

"Well, wouldn't you be able to take the real credit for inspiring me to do my changeover?"

"Mr. Luthor, you really think anyone would really care about what actually inspired you as much as the fact that you did it? After all, I've already admitted that neither I nor anyone else could make you change your ways, and that nobody anywhere thinks that you can change even if you wanted to. So do you think that anyone will really think that much of an obviously silly idea from a teenaged cheerleader from another reality offered to this world's greatest super-villain? Especially after I return to my own world, and the only 'Kim Possible' still here is a cartoon character to amuse children and possibly teenagers? Everyone would know that a cartoon character could never have influenced you, Mr. Luthor, and that you are far beyond the influence of any subliminal message that that so-called cheerleader could've tried sending to you. After all, you've already said that the only thing I'm good for, as a cheerleader at least, is to influence the hormone levels of some teenage athletes on the field so that they will battle other teenage athletes, and you, the great Lex Luthor, are beyond the such trivial considerations as hormones and the like when your head is 'in the game', so to speak."

"No, Mr. Luthor, if anyone even tries to bring up the subject of inspiration, it may be only in a vain attempt to irritate you, to make you turn back to a life of crime and violence. But you'll be able to resist that, Mr. Luthor, since everyone else on the earth will be cheering for you to continue as a hero or superhero, and for you to continue doing good for all of humanity, no matter what the detractors may try to say. After all, what can one or two detractors, or one or two irritants, do against a whole world of cheerleaders cheering on 'Team Luthor'?"

"Team Luthor?" Lex was confused again. "What in blazes are you talking about, cheerleader?"

"Of course! Lex Luthor, the man who turned himself around, who refused to be just a cartoon or comic strip stereotype, but whom instead became a real person and deflected his destiny of death into one of life. The man who has Superman and Supergirl helping him the few times when he needs a little help from them to save the world, but who is usually in charge of the situation himself. For instance, you detect an impending earthquake and notify the Justice League of the danger before the JL satellite can, and then they go out into the field to stop the danger. So, it's 'Team Luthor', with you the quarterback, and with Superman, Supergirl, the Justice League and the rest of the superheroing community being on your team instead of the other way around!"

"You stupid cheerleader, they would never take any directions from me! Even you must realize they would rather die than obey me, and they would refuse to follow my instructions in any event. "

"And risk the lives of innocent people after you've alerted them to a danger that was pending or a sitch that needed saving? If they did that, wouldn't it finally prove that you were right all along about them? In fact, even if they were irritated with you, they could never show it in public for fear of appearing to be less supportive of Team Luthor than the general population of non-superheroes. Once again, they would be powerless against you. After all, with Team Luthor working for the general benefit of humanity, who could ever really cheer against it?"

"No, cheerleader, this tactic is not going to work with me" responded Luthor, forcefully. "I'm wise to your attempt to 'cheerlead me' into doing this without your pompoms and other apparatus of the trade. Even my female captor is aware of what you're trying to do. Isn't that right, my dear teenage Kryptonian?"

"Yes, Lex, I was aware of it, and I also hoping you would at least be willing to take the challenge despite that. You see Lex, I can't speak for the others, but I actually would be happy to work with you and take your direction if it means we can save people and help humanity. After all it might be a bit embarrassing to be called your 'girl Friday' or your side kick, but I could never put innocents at risk by refusing to work with you to help them. So you see, that teenage cheerleader in front of you is right, just like she was when she described how to kill you and get away with it if I was indeed as dark as you thought I was."

Then Supergirl paused for a moment, closed her eyes, and then continued speaking.

"In fact, Lex, at one point while she was speaking about Team Luthor, I could actually picture you, Kal, and myself standing in front of an audience, receiving an award for something we'd done together. You were in the middle, Kal was at your right hand, and I was at your left. And if we were chafing at having had to work with you or for you to get the job done, we were doing a good job of hiding it like she said, because we were smiling as broadly as you were. And I don't really know if you were smiling because you imagined us helpless to do anything else other than smile, or whether you were really enjoying yourself for once, receiving the acclaim you always wanted and always thought you deserved. In fact, Lex, you seem to have had the same smile that you had a little while ago when you thought I was about to die. And I was so happy to see you having genuine satisfaction about something that did not involve my or my cousin's death; I actually started to believe that you might just do it, if only to prove that you could."

Supergirl opened her eyes and looked directly at Luthor.

"You may not have believed her, or bought into her 'cheering on Team Luthor' attempt, but I did."

She then turned to the teenager in front of her.

"It may have only been for a moment, Kim, but I did believe that it was possible. I don't know how you manage to do it, but you do have a great power of persuasion when you put your mind to it. You are indeed 'all that', regardless of what your cartoon foe in blue may say each time that you defeat him."

"Thanks very much for the compliment, Supergirl, I greatly appreciate it. Of course, right now, this isn't really about me or you; right now, this is all about Mr. Luthor, and about the most important decision in his life."

Saying that, Kim turned to the man in question himself to resume and complete her "Team Luthor" cheer attempt.

"Mr. Luthor, in my own world, I do indeed help cheer-lead my team on to victory, but it's not as simple as hormones and all that. In fact, an important element of the whole sitch is simply us, the cheerleading team, demonstrating that we believe our team on the field can win, regardless of the odds that seem stacked against them. In fact, Mr. Luthor, sometimes those athletes you talked about will not step up to win the game in hopes of getting a date with one of us cheerleaders after the game, but will do it to make sure we're not disappointed in them, or to make sure that they do not let us down after we showed our faith in them to win. In short, by the performance of our routines, including the chanting of our words of encouragement, all of us are effectively saying: 'You can do it!... You can do it!... We believe that you can do it! Go Team! Win! Win! Win!' And it is the expression of that strong belief in them that often makes the difference between winning and losing. Nothing more, and nothing less; in fact, Mr. Luthor, it even works for boys who don't like girls at all…."

Kim, of course, would never divulge the name of that young man to anyone, either in this world or her own, but his confession to her regarding what the cheerleading team had done for him and his confidence in playing the game to his best effort in more than one contest had given her the assurance she needed to hope that she might somehow convince the super-criminal in front of her now that she believed he could do it, without the use of any of the usual teenage allure, adolescent hormone involvement, or stereotypical cheerleader movements, and especially without any use of the PDP (which, in this sitch, could not help but be counterproductive).

"And so, Mr. Luthor, we both know that I cannot cheer-lead you to victory. We also both know that no other woman or man in this universe could truly convince you that this is a contest that you can win if you decide to accept the challenge. You, and only you, are up to the task of cheerleading yourself, so to speak, to victory. You, and only you, are truly capable of cheering Team Luthor on to victory! Only your own unyielding belief in yourself will be strong enough to provide the support that you yourself need to get the job done! GO…TEAM…LUTHOR!"

Supergirl suddenly realized, with a bit of a shock, that Kim Possible was actually cheerleading Lex Luthor in a way that never been done before. In the way she was admitting that she could not cheer-lead him on, and that only he could do the job himself, she was actually doing that non-hormonal effort that she just talked about, linking that up with which could only be considered a very short motivational speech delivered to a person who had obviously heard more than a few lengthy motivational speeches directed at him in the past. Kara felt herself wondering whether the shortness of the speech contrasted to what Lex had heard before in the past would actually have a more positive impact that any of the listeners could expect. Could, Kim, in fact, achieve the impossible?

Kim herself thought she'd done as much she could in this sitch. It was, as she had already said, now all up to him.

"Well, Mr. Luthor, what do you say about all this? What do you say about stepping up and meeting this challenge that no one thinks you can do; a challenge truly worthy of the one and only Lex Luthor!" Kim concluded, with a smile meant to encourage a positive response as much as possible without any trace of any seductive intent; she knew all too well that any hormonal related effort would backfire and ruin any chance of resolving the sitch successfully.

"You really want to know what I say about all of this… this challenge?" Luthor deliberately paused and smiled, giving Kim an opportunity to encourage him to continue his response.

"Yes?" Kim gently smiled again, and waited for him to complete his answer.

"Well, I say that it would probably be for the best if you talked a lot less during your other five multiverse visits. That way, you won't waste as much time in those other worlds as you did here."

"Lex, that's not an answer to her question!" complained Kara, not yet understanding the importance of Luthor's unsolicited advice regarding talking during Kim's other multiverse visits.

"Yes, Supergirl, unfortunately, it is" said Kim, unable to keep the tone of sadness from that admission of failure. She glanced at Superman, and saw him both nodding in agreement with her statement and with her interpretation of the super-criminal's response, as well as briefly closing his eyes and letting her see the pain and sadness in his face as he also mourned an opportunity lost.

And, as he opened his eyes again, his face returning to its typical stoic appearance, he also spoke in a super-whisper too low for any normal human to hear, but extremely easy for Kim to lip-read and decipher: "But thank you, Ms. Possible, for trying to help Kara and me beyond today's 'major league' save. As you move on to your next 'sitch', I hope it will help you to remember what Batman once told me during another time of crisis and adversity: 'no matter how hard you try, and no matter what you do, you can't save everyone' ".

Kim responded with her own super-whisper: "And do Batman's wise words help you during those times when you can't save everyone?"

"Not really…"

"Same here, Superman, but thank you for trying, I really appreciate it…"

"Cheerleader, what are you and he whispering about? What are you plotting behind my back?" Luthor demanded to know. He had apparently missed Kim's lip movement during her super-whisper question to Superman, and it had caught only a portion of her thank you statement, thanks to his relishing of the moment of victory he had just had over the visitor from another universe. And Superman's now expressionless face gave no hint of the nature of any conversation that he and the teenage heroine had had.

"Nothing of importance to you, Mr. Luthor, but I do want to thank you for your advice concerning my more productive use of time in my future visits to the other universes. I'll try to do my best to minimize my wasted time while multiversing the other five sitches that I still have to address. After all, the sooner I finish up my visits to those other worlds, the sooner I can go home and spend some quality time with my best friend boyfriend. He is, after all, the reason I'm doing all of this in the first place."

Supergirl noticed that despite a major effort on her rescuer's part to minimize the impact that Lex Luthor's slamming of Kim's efforts had had on the teenager, there had been a definite though brief dimming of the light in her eyes. It was indeed unfortunate that despite all her efforts in this matter and how far she had come, the redheaded teenager had been unsuccessful in this important aspect of her mission.

Kim carefully considered for several seconds whether there was anything else she could do regarding the current sitch. She reluctantly accepted the fact that she had done all she could do. It was time to prepare for her departure from this other reality and return to her own world. It was time to say goodbye.

"Well, Kara Zor-EL and Kal Jor-El, I deeply regret not being able to help you more today than I've already done. I do, however, wish you all the best, and hope you will enjoy every moment you have with each other and with your friends. Please know that I will remember the time I spent here with you until the day I die, and that I will always do my best to follow the example that you two have set regarding helping others, no matter who they are, or where they are found. In this way will I honor you both until my own time is done. "

"And, Mr. Alexander Luthor, I also wish you all the best, and hope that you will reconsider your decision guarding the matter just discussed. Once I am gone, you will hopefully meditate on your options, and will objectively decide on which course of action will best result in a long and satisfying life for yourself. Please know that I will also remember the time I spent here with you until the day I die, and that I will always remember the lessons you taught me today regarding control of myself and my course of actions in all my activities. In this way will I honor you as well until my own time is done."

Supergirl, having spent most of her life on Krypton before her parents sent her away, just before its end, was the only one in the listening audience who realized what Kim had just done. Only she could recognize that the teenager from another reality had just given the three of them what was known as a "kryptonian living eulogy". She had been a preteen when she had witnessed an example of it on Krypton itself. A brave young man and a brave young woman were so honored before they went on a dangerous adventure that resulted in their heroic deaths. Her mother and father had explained to her much of the history behind that living eulogy, and she realized that the redheaded teenager was both accepting the probable course of actions that would ensue after she departed for her own world, and desirous to acknowledge the worth of three lives that might soon end. Kara was, of course, stunned to realize that this visitor from another reality somehow knew of this Kryptonian tradition, but at the same time, she took some small comfort in the courtesy of this strange young girl to so acknowledge them. The Kryptonian teenager promised herself that she would explain things to her cousin after Kim had departed and Luthor had been placed in prison. Supergirl could see that her cousin was slightly confused by Kim's sudden use of his formal Kryptonian name, but that he was apparently accepting it as just another example of the visitor's sometimes surprising actions, and was not about to question her about it.

Lex Luthor, however, was not so tolerant, and he reacted accordingly.

"How dare you call me that! I have not been addressed that way since I was a little child, and I will not tolerate any attempt to redefine that which I would call myself, and any attempt to dishonor me! You're just very fortunate that this Kryptonian is holding my right wrist, and preventing me from throttling you with my bare hands."

"What?" Exclaimed Kim, completely taken aback by Luthor's reaction to her statement. She couldn't understand why he'd been so upset with his given name being used by her with respect; she taken great pains not to mention the lessons he taught her included controlling the dark side within herself at all times, so that she would never turn into someone like him. She had so wanted to avoid any more drama at this stage of the sitch, but it was rapidly becoming obvious that Luthor was neither a good loser nor a good winner.

"Lex," shouted Supergirl. "She wasn't disrespecting you; she was paying all three of us a final honor before she left our world to go home!"

"A final honor, Kara?" Asked her cousin, now understanding that the Kryptonian teenager knew more of the back story of the auburn-haired teenager's closing statements.

"I don't know how she knew it, Kal, but it is a Kryptonian ceremony to pay respects before the death of the recipient, as opposed to after the end of someone's life as is the custom here on Earth. I myself witnessed it when I was a little girl just before Kar Van-Ze and Lae Zur-Rao lost their lives while rescuing 99 children from a volcanic valley eruption."

"Wait, I do remember that from the Kryptonian history crystals!" Acknowledged Superman. "I think it was one of the last accounts of heroism before the destruction of Krypton. The couple was engaged to be married in only a few days, but they reportedly said they could not enjoy their happiness together if they did not first do everything they could to save those who were in grave danger. I remember that they were buried together as if they were indeed man and wife in honor of their great sacrifice."

"And the ceremony before they went off on the fatal rescue was an acknowledgment that the likelihood that one or both would perish during the rescue of others." Added Supergirl.

Turning to Kim, Supergirl asked: "That is what you intended, isn't it?"

The somber faced teenager nodded her head silently.

Luthor however, would not be mollified by any explanation.

"I have had just enough of this whole thing! I am no hero and do not intend to be one."

"Lex, the ceremony is also valid for criminals; Kim was just acknowledging your impact on her life, even if it was a negative one for the most part."

"Not as negative as I would have liked it to be! If you had not just lucked out and grabbed my own wrist at the right moment, my second knife would have gone right through her heart, and she wouldn't be here irritating me with her senseless jabbering. You, young Kryptonian, are the only reason that she is still alive! "

Supergirl almost gasped at Luthor's outburst, but held her composure. How dare he continue to use such hateful speech! But, then again, he was, after all, the one and only Lex Luthor, so how could she expect anything but hate from him. It was, however, strange that Lex should still be so angry; it was almost as if he had not won the game of words with the redheaded teenager as he so obviously had, leading her on just enough to make her think she might have convinced him, only to slam down her hope so hard by giving her the initially nonsensical advice on talking. Yes, the anger and the hate was almost as if Lex realized he had lost to the teenager; but how could that be true?

The Kryptonian teenager's line of thought was interrupted, however, when Luthor resumed his ranting against the visiting heroine.

"And, even now, cheerleader, without any weapons, I could kill you with just my bare hands if this Kryptonian was not keeping me from doing so." Concluded Luthor, displaying that could only be described as feral smile.

"Is that so, Mr. Luthor?"

"Yes, indeed, cheerleader; with my martial arts skills, you would not stand a chance against me."

"Supergirl?"

"Yes, Kim?"

"Does Mr. Luthor have any more weapons on him, anywhere? Or any lead-lined areas that you cannot see through, anywhere between the soles of his shoes and the tip of his hairless head?"

Supergirl carefully scanned the criminal next to her. "No, Kim, this was the last thing he had on him." answered the Maiden of Steel, still holding the deadly knife in her right hand while maintaining full control of Luthor's right hand with her own left.

"Okay, then please let go of his wrist and step back five feet; grab him again only if he tries to move more than 10 feet away from his current position as if he's trying to escape. Let's just see if he can put his martial arts skills where his mouth is."

"Kim, he's dangerous; I've seen in videos …..

"And so am I, though I realize that the cartoon version for kids may not fully demonstrate that."

The redhead paused for just a moment, and then continued before anyone could interrupt her.

"Mr. Luthor has been talking a lot about this, that, and the other thing, but let's see if he can put any of it into action and back up his claims."

"Kim?" inquired Superman. "Are you sure about this? Even unarmed, Luthor can be lethal. "And your 'few minutes' extension expired quite some time ago…"

"Yes, Sir, and I appreciate your great patience in this Sitch. However, I believe I can promise you at this point, that, either way, it will be over in less than a minute, and either I or Mr. Luthor will better understand what the real sitch is in this case. It may even help him review his decision regarding my earlier challenge. In either case, my visit here will be concluded, and I'll be ready to move on from here with no further extensions. Please and thank you."

Without waiting for Superman's response, Kim, smiling, turned to Luthor and spoke.

"Mr. Luthor?"

"Yes, cheerleader?" said Lex, smirking, finally enjoying himself for the first time since she had appeared. If she managed to convince Superman to have Supergirl release his hand for only just a few seconds, he would teach her quickly how foolish she had been in her choice of a course of action. It would, of course, be her final lesson. Extremely final, indeed.

"Would you be ready to begin on a count of three by Supergirl if Superman agrees to let us check each other out? Or would you need maybe 15 additional seconds to limber up a little bit before that count of three since she has restrained you there for a bit?"

"No need for additional warm-up time, cheerleader, unless it's to give you enough time to say your final prayers or last words." Luthor's feral smile became full predator-sized, as he remembered what happened to that Asian girl that foolishly thought she could take him on. Oh well, she really hadn't suffered much; the light had quickly faded from her eyes even as she realized her life had ended with but a single thrust of his hand. It had been the most satisfying 5 seconds of his entire life…. Up to this point, that is.

The redheaded teenager seemed unfazed by Luthor's mind games, and she responded without showing any real concern regarding that implicit threat to her life.

"Understood, Mr. Luthor. Superman, your decision?"

"Very well, Ms. Possible…Kara, let Luthor go and step back as she requested. Intervene only if he moves more than 10 feet away from his current location as if to escape, or to prevent any lethal harm from occurring here."

"Understood, Kal. Kim, Lex, on the count of three?"

"Agreed." said Kim and Lex simultaneously.

"Jinx, you owe me a soda!" exclaimed Kim victoriously.

Strangely enough, Luthor did not complain about the teen's invocation of the jinx rule. What he did do though, was more than a little chilling.

"How about a simple pine box instead, just your size?" Offered Lex in response. "I'm sure you'll find it much more useful a few seconds from now than your original choice."

Once again, the redhead did not respond as expected to the clear threat. Incredibly, she smiled so broadly that an observer would have thought that he had offered to buy her a full sized ice cream sundae with all the toppings.

"No, thanks, I'll stick with the soda; diet, of course. Supergirl, whenever you're ready. Please and thank you!"

Supergirl gently released Luthor's right hand, and stepped back to give the two combatants room to maneuver, continuously watching both and ready to intervene if needed as per her cousin's instructions.

"On the count of three," started Supergirl, watching closely to make sure that neither human jumped the gun.

"One….Two…"

Luthor "jumped the gun" at 2.65 seconds, and Kryptonian teenager was about to call out a fault when she realized with a shock that Kim had already responded to the criminal's premature move. And within a few more "tic"s on one of this reality's clocks, the "bout" was truly over, and Supergirl was in a truly unexpected position (at least, unexpected to her).

"Kim, No! Please don't kill him…!...?" begged Kara, but her concern turned to confusion as she observed that the teenager had, in mid-thrust, pulled the fingers of her right hand inward to change the counterattack thrust from a lethal to a nonlethal one after having successfully toppled the super criminal on his back, smoothly turning his "jump the gun" start into what would've been his last actions in this life had she not switched from lethal to nonlethal in the blink of an eye. The teenage Kryptonian could not believe that the human girl had responded and moved so fast that Kara's own blocking motion was just barely in time to block the lethal version had the teen not invalidated the move herself.

"Supergirl, did you really think that I was going to end his life just because he jumped the gun? I really thought you understood me better than that." Kim's face clearly showed the concern she just expressed in words. "Well, I guess there's a bright side to this downer, at least."

Kara could not see it. "What is that, Kim?" She asked, confused even more than before by the ease with which the teenager had turned the tables on the feared super-criminal. Was it really possible that she could do anything?

"Why, that Luthor can now see how you really feel about him."

"What!" Exclaimed Kara and Lex at the same time.

"Well," started Kim, skipping the jinx rule invocation, "Supergirl thinks I'm about to kill you and take you out of her life forever, so what does she do? She puts her hand in front of your throat to save your life, knowing that you may one day return that favor by killing her with another kryptonite rock death trap."

Kim once again displayed a smile a mile wide to Luthor, as large as the one she had displayed when he was threatening her with death, and suggesting a pine box instead of a soda.

"Face it, Mr. Luthor, the Kryptonian teenage girl you were trying to really kill not all that long ago today just saved your life, and the whole world just saw it!"

"All of your enemies and your allies, all of this world's superheroes and super-villains, and all the people of this Earth witnessed Supergirl saving the super-criminal from what could've been a super-death!"

Kim forced herself to pause for a brief time to permit the drama to grow a bit before concluding with a one word comment: "Spankin'!"

"What…what?" this time, Luthor had spoken by himself, since the Kryptonian teenager had understood Kim's slang. Slowly comprehending the situation at hand and shaking off his former confusion regarding the very recent turn of events, including the stunning reversal in the martial arts contest, Luthor glanced at the Kryptonian teenager and slowly said with disbelief in his voice "you... saved… me… from… her?"

"Well, Lex, I placed my hand to protect your throat from her counterattack thrust when I feared it was the lethal version, but she had gone non-lethal en route, so you weren't really in true danger. It…"

"But, why did you even try to block her?" Luthor questioned the Kryptonian teenager. He was now quite confused again by the pair of unexpected events that occurred. First, the redhead had managed to turn the tables on him with a speed that had only been equaled or surpassed by the two Kryptonians, the Amazonian princess, or the red and yellow speedster known as the Flash. Lex realized once again that his adversary could not possibly be just an average girl, no matter what she claimed to the contrary. Secondly, the person he knew to be the greatest threat to Earth and its people's as well as to his own person had just blocked the motion that could have ended his life just as quickly as he had taken care of the Asian girl. His eyes would have dimmed as well, while the invader from another reality smiled and enjoyed her victory over him.

"Lex," started Supergirl, "my cousin told me to make sure that that nothing lethal happened, and so I did. The only thing I do apologize for is that I was so certain that I would have to be blocking your lethal move against her that I was a little slow in responding to her possible lethal thrust against you. But, like I already said, she had switched to non-lethal as she completed her move, and… "

Supergirl's eyes suddenly widened as she realized something she had missed before.

"Kim, you tricked me!" she said turning towards the other teenager. "You FAKED going lethal just so I would try to block your move, and do what I did to protect Lex! And then you quickly went to non-lethal mode just in case I wasn't fast enough to block you…"

Well, Supergirl, you and your cousin are still partially exposed to the kryptonite through the not-quite- thick-enough lead blanket, and as was noted earlier, neither of you is up to full speed right now. And just like when I whispered to you about Luthor's second knife while I was still in midair from dodging the first one, I had to have a plan B to make sure nobody died today.

"Whispered in mid air?" Asked Luthor incredulously. The ridiculous redhead had sent the Kryptonian teenager a message as she was tumbling through the air?

"Yes, Lex," answered Supergirl, with a slight tremor in her voice. "And if I hadn't moved fast enough…"

"This silly cheerleader would be dead" completed Lex, smiling broadly for the first time since he found himself on the ground after Kim's counter thrust.

"So not the truth, and so not the drama, as well" countered Kim. "Here, Supergirl, help Mr. Luthor get back on his feet and then position him just the way he was when you did stop him from throwing the second knife before." Suggested Kim, as she got up and returned to her 'second knife' position. She then assumed to be what appeared to be identical to the physical stance she had at that crucial moment.

Now please let go of his right hand and step away a foot or two back. Now let's see what would have happened if you had not gotten to his hand in time.

"'Count of three' again, cheerleader?" inquired Luthor, a smirk returning to his face.

"Not this time, Mr. Luthor… this time-"Kim halted her speech in midsentence as her left hand moved at a speed that Supergirl once again found incredible to reposition itself at a new location. Supergirl was also shocked to realize that Kim's hand motion was in response to Luthor's own surprise hand motion that would have thrown the second knife at Kim's heart if he had still had it in his hand!

"No!" Exclaimed Luthor, in full denial of what he'd just seen. "Even you are not ridiculous enough to think you can catch a knife in mid air like Supergirl could. The knife would still have cut right through your hand and continued right into your heart!"

"Sorry, Mr. Luthor, you're so totally wrong" responded Kim, with a faint smile on her face. "This special titanium and Kevlar hybrid glove would have slowed down the knife enough to leave it embedded only in my left hand and not in my chest. I only had to move my hand fast enough to beat the knife to this position and be willing to take the continuing thrust of that knife into my hand until it stopped."

"But Kim, it would've wrecked your hand!" Cried out Supergirl, aghast. "And, the pain-"

"…Would have been completely preferable to the pain that I would have felt if it had reached my heart instead." Kim stopped speaking, and her slight smile faded.

"Of course, it would have probably ended my visit to your universe, and possibly forced the cancellation of the rest of my six universe adventure. Wade would have pressed the retrieval button to pull me back home right away, called my mom to have her take me to Middleton hospital for surgery, and she, in turn, would give me a nonstop lecture on several items until my hand was all bandaged up after the surgery. She might then ground me for a week or two, and keep me from taking on any regular missions from Wade for a while. And Bonnie would be overjoyed that I was off the cheerleader team until my hand was healed."

Kim's faint smile returned after a brief pause in her speech, and she continued.

"However, all that lecturing, no matter how long it was, the grounding, and even Bonnie's celebrating my misfortunes, would all be infinitely preferable to a pine box for one. Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Luthor?"

Luthor didn't answer Kim's question, and after a few more seconds of silence, Supergirl finally understood a few things that she hadn't quite understood earlier, and her eyes widened in surprise.

Despite his verbal smack down effort of Kim's unusual cheerleading effort to get him to reform and become a superhero, Lex had actually lost the battle between him and the redheaded teen. Except for the point where he refused to accept the challenge that she offered him, the unexpected visitor from another world had beaten him at every turn. This was brought to perfectly clear focus only after she had clearly demonstrated how she could have beaten him or killed him outright if she had wanted to and Supergirl had been unable to intervene due to the residual kryptonite poisoning. Supergirl suddenly realized that Luthor had realized the same things and was powerless to refute or deny the truth. And she also realized that the redheaded teenager was aware of the same truths that she had just figured out herself.

Kim saw that Supergirl had finally figured out the reason for Luthor's continued silence, and why there be no more dialogue for some time to come. She then decided to give Lex Luther one more piece of information for him to "chew on" at leisure, so to speak.

"Mr. Luthor, I'm not sure if this will help you at all in your meditations about today, but you might find it useful to think of me not as a cheerleader who happens to know some Kung fu or other martial arts exercises, but as an experienced martial arts practitioner, expert in many disciplines, who happens to find enjoyment and relaxation in cheerleading and other teenager pursuits. The former would have needed Supergirl's help to avoid being killed by you, but the latter made it more likely that Supergirl might think that she needed to help you. This insight is offered by me freely and without obligation beyond you just rethinking things in the hopes that such reconsideration will prove beneficial to you and others. By the way, Mr. Luthor, you were a worthy opponent today in our short match; I only hope that, in time, you could prove to be an equally worthy ally to those you now consider enemies."

And speaking of time, the multiverse-traveling heroine realized that her own time was now up. There was nothing left on the overtime clock, it was time to go; she had done everything that she could to save this sitch.

Except, of course, the final challenge she would embed in her farewell speech. She would never know whether this would actually turn the trick and actually save this sitch for real, but she also knew that she had to at least try this one last thing before leaving if she ever hoped to convince herself that she had done all that she could do here when she had the chance, and permit herself to go to sleep at night.

Kim began her farewell speech to the Kryptonians, Luthor, and all her other listeners.

"I am truly sorry, Supergirl and Superman. Apparently, I have indeed wasted your time. I apologize as well to all those people patiently waiting outside the shield. At least for now, however, and for these next few moments, the sitch is as saved as it can be. All three of you are alive and breathing and maybe, just maybe, Mr. Luthor will reconsider his decision regarding my original challenge about changing himself from super-villain to superhero before he finally does something that winds up killing all of you. I deeply regret that I was not able to do more to encourage him to do what only he could do. "

Kimberly paused for a few seconds, and then looked at Luthor as she let fly the last arrow in her quiver.

"Of course, I now realize my mistake was in believing that Mr. Luthor was up to the challenge that I offered him. I now realize that his great genius is not as all encompassing as I first thought, but is limited to his ability to construct great plans of evil intent, and to implement them with very great efficiency and effectiveness. He is unable to use that same great genius to understand all that I laid out before him regarding Superman, Supergirl, and everything else, or to even work it out for himself, despite the fact that he is far more brilliant than me."

"Since he has clearly demonstrated to me that my cheerleading skills are inadequate regarding his situation, I will take one last action now in a final attempt to get him to do the right thing. Since cheerleading has failed to do the job, I will turn to anti-cheerleading."

"So, Mr. Luthor, I will take back my original cheerleading belief that you could meet the challenge, and flip it on its head."

"I will now say to you, and to everyone else here, that I do not believe you can meet the challenge I posed to you earlier. I do not believe that you can overcome your inner Luthor-ness to become the superhero I once thought you could be."

"And since these are the last words I will be speaking in your universe, they will stand as a permanent challenge to you from me, witnessed by all of these listeners." Kim continued, her and motioning the Kryptonians, the shield, and the rest of the outer world.

"And, after I go, if you are unable to meet the challenge during the rest of your life, everyone will know that, in the end, you were unable to prove this little, stupid, silly, redheaded cheerleader wrong in her final predictions about you."

"And since you were so infuriated by me when I was trying to help you out earlier, I can barely imagine how you'll feel in this new sitch you are now in. This time you will no longer have the opportunity of verbal or physical rematches with yours truly. The only way you can now win in the eyes of everyone else, and possibly even in your own eyes, is to prove me wrong by doing what I said you could not do. "

"And that, Mr. Luthor, is the way the sitch sits. Good-bye, and farewell, forever. Unlike General Douglas MacArthur, I shall not return."

As Lex Luthor continued his silence, Kim quickly turned back to Supergirl, and quickly asked her a simple question.

"Is it okay with you if I take this with me as a souvenir? Kim politely inquired, indicating the titanium steel blade knife still in the Kryptonian girl's hand. You see, I'd really like my friend Wade to be able to analyze it to see if titanium steel in your universe is any different than titanium steel in ours. Just like you'll be able to check out the lead and other materials in my little rock blanket to check for any differences, subtle or otherwise, between it and your own reference elements and materials."

"Kal, what do you say?" asked Supergirl, looking at her cousin for guidance.

"Ms. Possible, are you also interested in checking out our concessions stand before beginning your 'return trip'? I believe we have an excellent selection of snacks and drinks, including some diet soda." Quipped the Man of Steel, realizing that after the now concluding drama, some levity was indeed called for. "I understand that Luthor owes you one for the jinx call earlier, right?"

"Tell you what, Superman," responded Kim, rising to the occasion. Let me trade you both the soda and the blanket for the titanium steel knife. By the way, I do appreciate your offer of snacks, but I feel it will be much better if I travel on an empty stomach. And, since some of my previous activities here have caused your cousin some concern about my possible use of sharp objects around certain follicle-challenged individuals who shall not be named at this time, you could have her place my souvenir in my backpack so that it won't pose a hazard to any humans in the immediate vicinity."

Amazingly, the only other human in the immediate vicinity remained silent; Supergirl realized that she couldn't decide whether Luthor was in some new type of a state of shock, or was simply already concentrating on thinking of a means of escape from whatever prison the human authorities placed him in after the superheroes turned him over to them.

"Ms. Possible, I believe we can trust you not to misuse your souvenir, but Kara putting it in your backpack would probably reduce the chances of it being stolen by a pickpocket during your trip home."

"Of course, Superman, you're probably correct" Kim responded as she turned her back to Kara so that teenage Kryptonian could do as her cousin had suggested.

Supergirl placed the knife in her backpack, and gently tapped her on her left shoulder with her now empty right hand.

"Well, it looks like you're good to go now, Kim. Please be extra careful on your next five sitches. And thanks again for your help in this one."

"No big, Supergirl!" exclaimed Kim, getting back into her bantering mode. "I'm always happy to help a fellow teenager and her friends when they're in a serious sitch. It's what I do!"

With those words, Kim pulled out the Multiversal Kimmunicator, and prepared to point it away from her and her three closest companions and towards a portion of the still active Luthorian Shield. An observer from above (like the person on monitor duty on the JL Satellite) could clearly see that the direction that the redheaded teenager was pointing the device was at a right angle to a line that connected the blanketed kryptonite to the four humanoids. When she started running toward the doorway she was about to open, it would be away from both her three companions and from the blanketed kryptonite; none of those either near or far would even begin to think that she might be considering taking the blanket or the kryptonite with her.

However, before she pressed the button that would indeed activate the doorway home, she thought a few words to her newest friends would be appropriate.

"Now, Superman, and Supergirl, when I press this button, I will be activating the doorway to my home world. To me, and probably to Mr. Luthor, it will appear to be a pale white pastel fog rectangle, roughly 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide. I have no idea how it may appear to your Kryptonian eyes with all the super-vision abilities that you possess in them. It may indeed appear white to your eyes as well, or you may perceive additional wavelengths that are invisible to mere humans. I apologize in advance if they cause you any distress or discomfort, and I ask you to look away if it causes you any unpleasantness or additional nausea. I feel badly enough that I was not able to block more of the kryptonite radiation coming from that rock over there on the low rise nearby" apologized Kim, motioning towards the object with the Multiversal Kimmunicator before returning it to its original direction, "but as it was, I was near the weight limit that I thought I could carry and still maneuver rapidly enough to hopefully save the sitch as I did. Please note that although it appears from here that I covered the rock with the blanket totally before confronting Luthor, I actually left the far side of the rock bare, and doubled over the blanket on the near side to give you both as much protection as I could manage…"

"No need to apologize, Kim," responded Supergirl, "you truly did a fine job in saving the sitch the way you did."

Superman also sought to reassure the concerned redheaded teenager.

"Yes, indeed, Ms. Possible, the discomfort we feel right now is minimal, and after you depart and our friends join us, they'll relocate that rock to a very safe place far away from here. And thank you for the advance warning regarding your doorway; Kara and I will be very careful as we glance at your way home. I will admit, however, to some curiosity regarding what she and I will see, both when your door opens, and when you step through it and..."

Suddenly Superman paused, thought for a moment, and then, with a new note of concern, continued.

"However, Ms. Possible, I am a little bit worried about your safety returning home."

"Really, Superman?" questioned Kim. "In what way are you concerned?" It didn't seem to her that Wade had overlooked anything in his efforts to ensure her safe travels between the universes (besides the mission commander "time bomb", that is), but the expression on the Man of Steel's face seemed perfectly genuine, and the teen heroine did not believe he would try to mislead her into delaying her departure for anything other than a real potential danger. Hopefully, she would have an answer to whatever question he asked or issue he raised.

"Well, if I correctly understand your story regarding your adventure through the multiverse so far, this will be your first attempt to return home to your own universe, right?"

"Yes, Superman, that is quite correct."

"WelI, is it at all possible…?," Superman briefly paused after speaking that often overly used "Kim-centric" word to display a somewhat embarrassed expression that indicated he really wished that he could have used another word in its place, "that the doorway that opened to let you enter our universes to help my cousin and me was a one-way passageway, not bi-directional, and that you might either be injured or killed if you attempt to go the 'wrong way'? Or, that, instead, you might be diverted into another reality instead of your home one? That Wade might be an enemy and not a friend, speak French instead of English, write with his other hand, or read and write mirror-image writing? Or even worse, be comprised of anti-matter instead of matter?"

"Please understand, Ms. Possible, that although I don't want to keep you from going home to your friend and your family, I believe it would be the height of poor hospitality on our part if we permitted you to unnecessarily risk yourself after you did so much to help us here. Can you reassure me regarding my worries regarding these issues? Please and thank you?"

Kim smiled at Superman's repeated use of one of her own favored phrases; it seemed that she might have done more in this universe than just saving two superheroes and a super-criminal from a deadly sitch. She also knew that she could answer his questions more than adequately herself, but decided to address his concerns in another manner to avoid any chance of misunderstanding developing at this late stage of the sitch.

"Yes, I can, Superman, but I first want to thank you for your concerns, and to let you know that I greatly appreciate your interest in my safe travel home. You see, the items you brought up were a very great concern to me and my friend Wade, and we talked about all these concerns at great length. However, rather than me taking a chance of actually mis-speaking something in my response so that I fail to address your question correctly, I think it best that you get the answer directly from the person who spared no effort to make sure that we left nothing to chance, particularly where my own welfare was concerned. It's no exaggeration to say that he truly rocks, big-time!"

Lifting the Multiversal Kimmunicator towards her own mouth, the redheaded teenager voiced her own question into it.

"Well, Wade, did you get all of that, and can you answer Superman's concerns and issues? Please and thank you!"

"Sure thing, Kim, just hold the MK up so he can see me on the screen."

"Wait one moment, Ms. Possible" interrupted Superman "how long has your friend been listening to everything here?"

"Well, Superman, one of the agreements Wade insisted on before he would help me with this in multiverse travel activity was that he would monitor me during all my visits to the six other universes, and he retained the right to push the retrieval button whenever he decided to pull me back home for my own safety. After all, if he couldn't see or hear what was happening, then he wouldn't be able to pull me back if Luthor had lucked out and imbedded his second knife in my hand."

The redheaded teenager paused for a moment, and then, with an apologetic look on her face, continued.

"I'm really very sorry, Superman; it was never my intent to mislead you or anyone else in this world that I was here without someone at least watching over me from my home universe. I do hope at least, though, that this might show you that I'm not quite as reckless as I may first appear to the casual observer. I do go on dangerous missions in my own world, but I train very hard between them to make sure that I'm as good as I can be, and be as safe as I can be in any sitch. For this six universe adventure, I've trained and practiced harder than ever before to minimize the danger and maximize the safety in this and the other five realities, since I realize that I'm 'not in Kansas' anymore and surprises are more likely to be dangerous ones."

"So your reality also has the movie 'The Wizard of Oz'…is it with Judy Garland as Dorothy?" asked an interested Man of Steel, still pondering the existence of another reality that was so different and yet not so different after all.

"Yes, Superman, and I'm reminded now of one of the phrases that she uttered: 'there's no place like home'. I guess that's as a good a phrase as any to prompt me to get ready to open the doorway home, after Wade answers your concerns, that is. Wade?" Kim ended her speech to the male Kryptonian and her friend one universe away by again facing the screen of the Multiversal Kimmunicator towards the concerned superhero, and allowing the two of them to see each other.

Kim noticed the surprised look on Superman's face as he viewed the young computer genius on the Kimmunicator display.

"You're not even a teenager yet, are you, young man? It never occurred to me to think that that this young lady here was the senior member of this team."

"No sir, I'm not yet thirteen, but I'm certain I can answer all your questions regarding your concerns."

"You see, I didn't really want Kim to go on this adventure in the first place, but, as you now know from personal experience, she can be very persuasive, and I realized she had too many valid issues for me to simply say 'No'."

"But, you see, Superman, in a world almost totally without people like you and your cousin, she's the one our world often counts on when it's in distress. They beep her and call her, and she goes all out to make it all right, to make sure the whole world can sleep tight. That's why I go all out to protect her during this mission beyond our own reality: I don't want my world or me to lose our own protector. You see, in her own special way, she's a real superhero to me and all who know her."

The Last Son of Krypton noticed that the redheaded teenager had begun fiercely blushing in embarrassment, and he smiled sympathetically at her predicament. He now could believe that she was just an average girl. Such a contradiction in some ways, he thought. She can stand toe to toe with super criminals without flinching, but she buckles under glowing testament from a friend.

The focus of his interest interrupted his thoughts by responding to her friend's tribute.

"So not a superhero, Wade; it's just me" protested Kim. Then turning to Superman again, she continued, apologetically, "not that there is anything wrong with being a superhero, of course."

"Understood, Ms. Possible, after all, I do enjoy being one myself." Then, glancing at Luthor and his cousin, he added "at least most of the time, that is."

"But, Ms. Possible, I do now understand why your friend is so very protective and why my concerns were probably mostly invalid regarding your safety. I think, however, I would greatly appreciate if I can have him explain a few things to me anyway."

"Of course, Superman", responded Kim, handing the Man of Steel the MK, then stepping back, ceding control of the conversation to him and her friend.

As Wade attempted to explain his various safeguards and protective efforts concerning Kim and her travels, and as Superman asked for additional clarifications regarding some matters, the redheaded teenager with the green eyes suddenly realized that, for the first time since she had entered the doorway into this world, she had nothing to do except sightsee like a tourist. Of course, her options were rather limited at this point, since she wanted to be ready to move on as soon as Wade had satisfied the Man of Steel's concerns, and certainly did not want to raise anyone's concerns by moving away from her current waiting spot.

Still, Kim felt a strange sense of freedom in just being able to stand there and absorb the sights and sounds of the surrounding area without a real need to do anything about or react to anything specifically. She realized that she could not take standing around doing nothing for long, especially while in "mission mode", but it was an interesting change of pace in the short term, and she decided to make the most of it.

The temporary tourist in mission garb nonchalantly glanced around her, trying her best to absorb all the sights and sounds she could, while at the same time trying very hard to not to appear impatient to any and all who might be observing her themselves.

Wade and Superman talking about safety and her. Supergirl patiently and silently holding Luthor's right hand. Luthor himself remaining silent and as still as a statue. A jet plane flying well above the shield. Small flock of birds flying overhead under the shield. The almost silent humming of the shield itself, along with the chattering of some ground squirrels that were completely oblivious to the drama being played out in their neighborhood. All in all, not really all that bad a place to visit, criminal company excepted, of course. Just as long as her "timeout" was not too long, that is.

And it was not, as Kim suddenly noticed that Superman had stopped talking and had started walking over to her position. Then, with a smile, he handed her back the MK.

"Well, Ms. Possible, your friend has satisfied my concerns adequately for me to feel that you'll not be at excessive risk by us allowing you to start back home at this time. In fact, he's done so by telling me about a feature that he's not informed you about yet. Are you interested in knowing what it is, or are you satisfied to find out when you try to open the doorway home?"

Something that Wade had not told her about? What had he decided to keep secret about her return to her own universe? After all they had gone through in conversations about Multiversal travel, what was she still ignorant of?

"Wade? A little explanation now? Please and thank you?" Kim asked her younger friend, noting as she did so that Superman's smile was growing slightly larger in a very friendly manner as she made the request for more information about the "return home" sitch.

Well, Kim, do you remember during our conversations about returning home after each Sitch in another universe, we actually talked about that "wrong Wade" sitch that Superman also raised earlier? About how would we know that the door that you opened at the end of your visit would actually lead you home to my room?

Yes, Wade, I do remember. You had said something about a pilot signal from your computer console to this Kimmunicator sent embedded in the communication signal from you to me would sync up with and lock on to the doorway's own transmitted signal if and only if the two fully matched. You then said the Kimmunicator would indicate that matching signal lock was confirmed, and that it would then be safe for me to enter the doorway and return home to your computer room. You said that the pilot light safety feature was why it was necessary for me to return home after going to each universe. If I was to go to another universe other than home, there was a danger of losing the pilot signal and risking the "wrong Wade" danger when I tried to return home from that second universe.

That's right Kim, but do you also remember I never really told you what that safe indication was going to be?

Well, yes, but I just assumed that it would be just like the 11-dimensional lock indication that I had when I was traveling out to the universe that I was about to visit, just like I did earlier today.

True, and I could have made sure that it was like that, but then I thought something special was in order.

"I decided to do it the day after you returned home from yet another regular mission involving Drakken and Shego. This time, after you turned them over to Global Justice, I arranged for you and Ron to catch a ride back on a cargo plane that flew directly to Middleton Airport so that you would get back in time for Ron and you to have a Friday date at Bueno Nacho. You told me were very tired on the way back since stopping those two criminals was a little bit more tiring than usual, especially since you had been so busy during the week stopping Dimentor, Senor Senior, and DNAmy. But you told me that the tiredness you were feeling vanished when you saw the lights of the runway blinking, indicating that you and Ron were almost home, and you could get a little personal time with your best friend boyfriend off the mission clock."

"Well that's true, Wade, I do remember saying that, but what but what does that to do with this sitch about returning home?" Kim asked, still slightly confused about what that prior conversation had to do with the current return preparations and safeguards.

"Perhaps, young man, we shouldn't keep our mutual friend in suspense any longer" opined a very sympathetic Superman, still displaying a very large friendly smile.

Ms. Possible, why don't you just lift up and point your MK the way you did before I expressed my concern about your safety, press the return button on it, and see what you think of the special indication he whipped up just for you. If you'll forgive me for taking a page from your book, in which you usually manage to work your name into the conversation with humorous intent, I would go on to voice the opinion that it's not only very special, but it's actually a truly super-special indication.

Super-special? Chuckled Kim, as she saw the tables turned on her in the banter department. "Hmmm, Superman, I wonder if I could possibly sue you for trademark infringement? Or would that be catch phrase copying?" Kim briefly smirked, as she momentarily considered the plight of the Disney Corporation lawyers trying to figure out the legal nuances of dealing with a real life version of their copyrighted cartoon character threatening to sue a real super hero for playfully copying said character's humorous verbiage. Oh well, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Besides, it really was time to go home.

"Never mind, Superman, in either case, it's so not the drama" quipped Kim, once again getting the upper hand. "Now then, let me go ahead and see what you and Wade know now that I don't know yet".

Kim lifted the Multiversal Kimmunicator and firmly pressed the return activation button.

The white pastel doorway opened about 15 feet in front of her. It appeared to be just like the one she'd seen before she had stepped into this new world. There seemed to be no difference from the initial activation-

And then she saw it. There, on the Kimmunicator itself, two rows of lights, one on the left edge of the Kimmunicator and the second on the right edge, were blinking on and off, much like the lights on the runway in Middleton. The same runway lights that had welcomed her home for many more missions than the one she had talked to Wade about during the setup for the six-universe mission that they were now in.

Wade, they are beautiful, and I have a definite confirmation that the doorway will bring me back to you and everyone else I care about. Then, glancing briefly at Superman, and then again in his cousin, she added "at least in my home universe". She saw the Man of Steel nod briefly, acknowledging her statement addition.

"Ms. Possible, it looks like you have clearance for landing on your return trip," said Superman. Then he added "and thank you for flying multiversal airways; please remember to keep us in mind for all your multi-universal traveling needs."

But then, turning only a bit more serious, Superman continued. "It looks like you're indeed ready for final approach, Ms. Possible, but I do wonder if you can actually get to that door before the Flash gets to you, if I press the shield deactivate button as you take your first step forward towards it? After all, it will be a simple short foot race, nothing too hard for a girl who can do anything, right? And the shield may not shut down immediately, so you'll have some advantage on the Flash at the start."

Superman displayed a faint smile, and placed his thumb directly above the shield "Off" button as he did so. "How about this? I'll even give you .2 second head start in addition to the shield delay, okay?" His smile widened.

Kim smiled back, and then responded by talking to Wade on the Kimmunicator. She realized that, even at her maximum speed, it would take nearly ½ second to reach the doorway. Even remaining subsonic, the speedster could travel from the shield wall edge to the door in a minuscule fraction of that interval. Kim concluded that even with Superman's head start offer and an equal delay in the shield collapse after he pressed the button, it would be no contest: the Flash would win. Unless something could stop him before he caught her?

"Well, Wade, I'm not quite sure how serious our Kryptonian friend is about me having a race with the Flash, and seeing whether the Scarlet Speedster can catch me before I get to the doorway, but if he does catch me, do not press the Retrieval button. Just quickly give my mom a call, and let her know that I am safe and sound in the Justice League detention room with Wonder Woman as a chaperone, and I will be coming home as soon as they let me out of detention. Okay?"

"Yes, Kim, I understand. I won't press the button, but I will call your mom, inform her about the detention sitch with the Justice League."

"OK, Wade, this sitch is finished; I'm on my way back home with runway lights still blinking a warm welcome home. I guess we're both about to find out how fast I can really run when I am racing against the Flash himself. Ready,…Set,…Go!"

Kim began sprinting towards the doorway as the last word left her. And she winced when she heard a definitive click from the shield remote control unit when she was still more than 2/10 second away from the door.

In addition, the Luthor shield collapsed almost immediately, and a red and yellow blur rapidly approached her location.

She was still off over 5 feet from the door when the Flash blocked her way, stopping her forward motion. OK, young lady, fun time is over; now you're going to answer some serious questions from the rest of us-

Flash's speech was interrupted as a strong blue-sleeved arm gently, but firmly, pulled him aside. In response, Flash's right hand grabbed Kim's right wrist to keep her from moving forward the final steps to the doorway.

But, Supes, you're not just not going to let her leave, are you? We really should keep her here for a bit, and really check her out thoroughly. I don't really trust her or that story of her's. I think she's hiding something, and I think she should stay here until we get to the heart of the matter.

"Let her go, Flash. I've given her a one-time free pass out of here. If she ever comes back here again, except to rescue her boyfriend, or someone else, from her reality, we will have some questions for her then…"

Kim turned briefly towards both the Man of Steel and the near-motionless Flash.

"Understood, Superman," agreed the redheaded teen, who then continued, "and you won't be the only ones that will have questions for me if I ever come back here without permission from at least either Mom or Dad. At the very least, they, Wade, and Ron will all be really ready to give me the third degree IF you ever decide to release me back to them after your Q and A. In fact, in that case, I'll probably be better off if you never let me go back…"

Flash started to speak again, and attempted to restate his concerns about Kim's detention.

But in any event, Supes, we really should keep her-

"No, Flash, this time, we release her….now" stated Superman calmly but firmly when Flash hesitated.

The Flash's reluctantly released Kim's right wrist. Kim smiled in response, and then spoke.

Thank you, Flash… And, thank you, Superman, for the one-time hall pass."

"No, … thank you, Ms. Possible, for your help in this super-serious…sitch. Best wishes on those next five; may all go well with you and them, and may you safely return to your family and your friends. Please be very careful out there."

"I will, Superman" said Kim, as she turned away from the two superheroes, and dashed into the doorway of light…

…. And found herself back in Wade's computer room.

Moments after she stepped through it, the doorway vanished, closing the passageway between the two worlds.

"Kim, you're home, safe and sound!" shouted Wade, as he jumped out of his computer console chair and quickly ran the short distance to the teenage adventuress, who had dropped to her knees after the door closed to avoid towering over her teammate.

"So not the drama, Wade," reassured Kim. "It was no big…seriously" she added, briefly taking on the tone of one of her adversaries, Motor Ed.

"OK, Kim, but I'm really glad you're back!"

"So am I, Wade. Well, this first sitch is finally done, and I'm ready for the next one. Do I have a go from you for Sitch Two?"

Wade hesitated for a moment, and then slowly nodded his head. "I was really worried about you when you were facing Luthor, and I was ready to pull you back had you been stabbed in the hand from his second knife, but you handled the whole thing like you normally do. You really rocked, Kim!"

"Thanks Wade; I just wish I had done better with Mr. Luthor and…."

"I know, Kim, but you did the best you could do; he just would not listen to reason or logic or even self interest. Even you can only do so much."

"I guess you're right, Wade, but I just wish…." The red-headed teenager's voice trailed off as she briefly thought of "what might have been"s. However, it was now time to move forward; the first Sitch was done, with five more not yet begun.

"Oh, by the way, here's a little souvenir from our first alternate universe visit" continued Kim, as she slipped her backpack off and removed the titanium steel knife from it. "Later on, you might want to analyze the titanium steel in this knife to see whether it is different from the titanium steel of our own reality. Either way, it will be another piece of the puzzle in helping us understand the multiverse we appear to live in, and how the universes may differ from each other. "

"Thanks, Kim; it will be really interesting to check this out later on, when things calm down after you finish your mission to all six alternate realities."

"But, before I head back out for my second sitch, Wade, I think it's best that I take a breather for a few minutes, and take time to 'powder my nose' before I head out of this world."

"Powder your nose, Kim? Why would you want to do that, it's not even shiny."

"Well, Wade, if I told you what I actually meant by that, you probably say it was TMI."

"TMI? Oh, I think I understand now. Sorry, Kim, I didn't mean to pry too much; it's just that…"

"No big, Wade, no big. Now you just relax, I will take care of some things, and be right back, all ready for Sitch Two. "

"OK, Kim, I'll see you when you get back." Agreed Wade, as Kim left the room.

Wade carefully put the knife on top of the storage desk for further investigation later, and sat back in his chair to await Kim's return.

His plan for a short period of tension-free relaxation in her absence was totally trashed when he heard a terrifying sound, and he looked at his computer screen to note an incoming phone call. And his heart began beating more rapidly as he recognized the message that the caller ID window was displaying to his disbelieving eyes: "Calling Source: Kim Possible Residence".

With tears beginning to stream from his eyes, the young computer genius reached out a shaking hand to pick up the phone handset and answer the call, wondering, as he did so, whether Kim would ever believe that he had not made the call to the Possible residence himself.

"Hello? Wade Load speaking….."

****To Be Continued****

(A/N: Well, one sitch down, and five to go. Or is the game about to be called on account of Mom? If Mrs. Possible is not about to cancel the mission, then what is the call all about? Well, while yours truly is working out that issue, please feel free to send in reviews or PMs to let me know what you think about this Grande-sized chapter. Thank you in advance for any input or feedback you care to offer, it is greatly appreciated.)

Kim Possible © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the others with them © DC Comics

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same.


	7. Chapter 7

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 7:

Sitch 2 World: A Matter of Perspective

(A/N: Kim Possible has just returned safely from her first alternate reality, and has left Wade's room to take care of some personal matters before embarking on her second trip "out there". However, a phone ringing at Wade's computer desk may spell an end to her planned six universe adventure for earlier than either she or Wade had planned. Just why is a call coming in from Kim's home, and what, if anything, can she do about?)

As Kim entered the room, carrying her Sitch Two backpack, she saw Wade talking on the phone.

As the young boy saw Kim entering the room, he stopped in mid-sentence, added "she's here now, Mrs. Possible", and then handed the phone to the teenager, mouthing the words "I did not call her" with a pained look on his face that he hoped would convince her that he was telling her the truth.

As she took the phone from the downcast boy genius, Kim smiled wanly, nodded, and mouthed back "I know".

"Hello, Mom, what's the Sitch?... No, Mom, I was not in the bathroom patching myself up. Mr. Luthor never laid a glove on me, and in fact, Supergirl felt she had to block one of my martial arts' moves to protect him from me…. Well, Mom, if you think I'm trying to pull another 'Halloween' stunt, I can go back to the bathroom and give you a real-time detailed visual inspection using the Kimmunicator to scan a visual image into your own personal home computer, you'll be able to clearly see that I have no scratches, bruises, bumps, or anything else to indicate I was injured in any way in my first visit beyond our own version of reality…."

Kim then completely stopped talking for an extended period of time, and Wade noted that she was now intently listening to her mother's response to her own reply on the question of injuries and her reference to the infamous Halloween incident, when Kim had lied to both her parents and to Ron regarding her plans and whereabouts that evening in order to attend a party where Josh Mankey was in attendance. Needless to say, the grounding she had gotten for those transgressions had clearly impressed upon her the need to avoid any remote chance of a repeat, or doing anything that might even give her parents any impression she might be considering a repeat of that action.

Wade noted that although Kim's face remained almost expressionless, she had now closed her eyes as her mother continued to talk to her. It was obvious that Kim wanted to go to the second Sitch reality as soon as possible, but also clearly realized she had to patiently wait until she could respond to her mother's concerns and thoughts regarding her only daughter's adventures in the Multiverse. She fully realized that one mistake or mis-statement could easily result in a permanent termination of mission.

"Yes, Mom, I do understand the adjustments you've just made to this mission, and I also understand why you felt it necessary to do so. And I do greatly appreciate what you did for me and Wade by taking responsibility for mission commander away from him before we started on the first Sitch."

Kim again became silent for about 20 seconds, again listening intently to her mother. When she responded, it was in a very calm but very affirmative tone—Kim was taking no chances that her mother would even start to suspect that her daughter might be unhappy or displeased with the mission adjustment.

"Yes, Mom, I confirm that, at the end of the next Sitch, and each one that follows it, I will give you a call as soon as I return back to Wade's room before I do anything else, including "powder my nose". If I acknowledge that I have sustained injuries, whether major or minor, or if you would just like to "double check" for yourself my post-Sitch physical condition, I will then go to Wade's bathroom and perform a self scan with the Multiversal Kimmunicator. You will then determine whether or not I am a "GO" for the next Sitch, and I will not argue your decision on that matter."

Kim stopped talking, and listened to her mother's response. She then spoke again, but it was only a single sentence, followed by a single word.

"Thank you, Mom, for giving me a 'GO' for Sitch Two, and for trusting me to do the right things regarding my safety 'out there'. Good-bye."

Kim opened her eyes, and placed the phone back on Wade's desk. She smiled weakly at Wade, and said "Well, she says I'm a 'GO' for Sitch Two. Do you concur as well?"

"Well, Kim, let's see what the MK says about lock-on; you do remember that I said that this alternate reality seem to have a greater element or degree of magic or metaphysical energies involved, and that this might slow down the locking-on process…."

"Understood, Wade, and I realize that this concern will also force you to more likely demonstrate a hair trigger reaction to pressing the auto-retrieval button. And after listening to my mother's concerns, I fully concur about your hair trigger response. We both have to do what we can to make sure my mother never regrets giving me permission to go…And to make sure YOU don't need to make any calls to her… "

"I fully concur with that statement, Kim. So, I guess it's time for you to go again, isn't it?" Wade asked.

"Yes, Wade, I agree that it is indeed time for me to begin a second visit to the Multiverse. Ready for Sitch Two!" confirmed Kim, as she positioned herself on the same spot she had started from for the previous Sitch.

"Beginning lock-on sequence to second Sitch location…" declared Wade, pressing the key that initiated the process of synchronizing the MK device with the second target universe/alternate reality.

As Wade had suspected and Kim had accepted, the lock-on to Sitch Two's world was not nearly instantaneous.

"Only eight of eleven dimensions showing lock, Wade." reported Kim, a note of concern creeping into the teenager's otherwise leveled voice. "…Correction, nine of eleven locked now! …We have ten of eleven!" rapidly updated the redheaded adventuress, measured optimism displacing her earlier concerned tone.

That optimism, however measured, was short-lived.

"We've lost one, Wade! We're back to nine of eleven!"

Wade noted the emotional content in those two clipped sentences, and was shocked when Kim spoke a third sentence that lacked all trace of the emotions filling them.

"Wade, do we have a Sitch Two World abort sitch here?"

His own emotional conflict within notwithstanding, Wade had to tell Kim the truth.

"No, Kim, sitch abort is not confirmed; I repeat, sitch abort is not confirmed. The metaphysical energies interference is simply slowing down the locking-on process. It jumped from 9 to 10 too quickly and the fallback was unavoidable, but it is now more stable, and the next time 10 comes up it should stay on."

"Patience is a virtue right, Wade?" Started Kim, who quickly followed up with a second sentence of the more declarative kind: "ten of eleven locked on and holding… eleven of eleven locked on… Correction, lock-on premature back down to ten of eleven and holding."

Wade noted that Kim was now being much more accepting of the fallback; once again his teenager friend and teammate was quickly adapting to the changing environment. The young computer genius once again found himself questioning whether the redheaded teenager was actually just an average girl.

And then, it finally happened.

"Lock-on is confirmed, Kim! We are go for Sitch Two!"

"Roger, Wade, the Multiversal Kimmunicator has an 11-dimensional space lock, but I'm not sure how hard a lock we have on all eleven. Can you reconfirm we have a go for sitch two?"

"Yes, Kim, you have a reconfirmation that we're locked on to your next stop. It took awhile longer than we expected or hoped, but we do now have a definite lock on Sitch Two world, and you're good to head out when you're ready."

"Very well, Wade," responded the redheaded teenager speaking again with a wide smile on her face, and a merry twinkle in her glistening green eyes. "Here are another few small steps for a cheerleader, and another giant leap for Ronkind!"

She again pressed the "MPI" button on her Multiversal Kimmunicator, which re-initiated the Multiversal Portal Interface function, opening the "door" into a second alternate reality. The so called door appeared to be the same paper thin sheet of pastel white light fog roughly 8 feet high by 6 feet wide that had jumped into existence for the first trip. There seemed to be no indication of the lengthy lock-on process that had led up to it, and no indication that the new world she was about to enter was far different from the one she had already visited.

Kim chuckled, turned back to the young boy one, and quipped, "It certainly looks 'good to go', Wade, but I think I'll walk, not run, through this one, just in case. Besides, your view screen indicates a little less open space over there than Sitch One World, and I don't want to give you any excuse to push 'Retrieve' by bumping into a tree or bush, or by tripping over a root on the ground surface. And just imagine my Mom if I have to report any self-inflicted injuries; after she finishes laughing at me, she may start to think twice about even letting me go on missions with Ron in THIS world…!"

Kim turned her face away from Wade and back at the portal. As she did so, Wade could see her face again change, and he realized that she was now truly back in 'mission mode'. Although he would still worry about her, he realized that she was ready as she ever could be for this adventure, and that this was something she had to do, for both Ron and for herself. The best he could do now was to do all he could to watch her back, and be ready to pull her out if needed.

Kim started moving forward, but at a walking pace of about 2 or 3 mph, ready to halt immediately if either Wade or her MK device indicated any lock-on issues. Just before she reached the portal and stepped through, Wade shouted "Good Luck with Sitch Two, Kim!"

As she stepped through the doorway to her second "elsewhere", Wade again spun around in his chair to view her entry into that "elsewhere" on his monitor screen. As she continued walking forward, away from the doorway, and as the doorway again faded away, Wade again positioned his hand protectively over the large "Retrieve" button that was just to the right of his regular keyboard, again hoping against hope that he would not need to use it…..

…..Kim looked around her as the door behind her faded out of existence, leaving her alone in a small clearing which itself was surrounded on all sides by a lush temperate-zone forest.

It was, in fact, very much like the various lush forest areas she had often visited during missions on her home world, and if she had not known she was now in another alternate reality, she might have easily concluded that she had returned to one of them. She might have, that is, except for one thing: the complete absence of any sound or motion beyond her own breathing and her own movement. No chirping, buzzing, croaking, or any other sound that indicated the presence of life in her immediate vicinity.

Kim paused her movement forward, and again glanced to the left and right before looking straight-ahead. She then tilted her head to the right, and her brow furrowed as she gave the matter some thought.

She thought she had heard the expected sounds of a regular forest from Wade's monitor screen before she left his computer room through the door of light. But, now that she was here, she heard none of the sounds that she associated with nature from her own world, except, possibly….?

Suddenly having an idea, Kim held her own breath for 30 seconds to remove even that sound from the environment, and listened intently to the resulting nearer to absolute silence to double check that inspirational thought.

Her idea resulted in her finally hearing a sound that was not of her own making. To Kim's ears, it appeared to be the sound of running water, possibly a babbling brook or a small waterfall. Though faint, Kim definitely recognized it, and was able to generate a fair estimate of the direction of the sound. Since she expected the object of her search in the first phase of her mission here to be near or in a body of water, she now had a pretty good idea of what her heading should be when she left the clearing.

That left only the question of the otherwise total silence since her arrival. Why was it so quiet?

Kim suddenly had another idea, and immediately investigated that new thought by activating the local scan mode of the Multiversal Kimmunicator. However the MK did not indicate any large life forms like an elephant, tiger, or horse within 300 yards of her own location, or anything that might support her idea that some sort of large creature had scared the local inhabitants into silence.

As she tried to puzzle out this conundrum, Wade, who up to now had kept his thoughts to himself and simply monitored Kim from his computer console monitor, decided to break his own self imposed silence and communicate with his off-world teammate.

"Kim, what's wrong?" inquired Wade carefully, realizing that anything that had his teammate concerned required his full attention as well.

"Well, Wade, I hate to sound like an actress from a classic melodrama, but I think it's too quiet here. Weren't you picking up normal forest sounds from this world before I came here?"

"I sure did, Kim. There were birds chirping, bees buzzing, and I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard some frogs croaking as well."

"I thought so" replied Kim. "But now all I hear is my own breathing, and the sounds of that babbling brook nearby. It may not be quiet enough to hear a pin drop, but it is certainly in the running for the honor. I thought it might be a large animal in the area nearby, but the MK is not showing anything I can see definitively on the local scan. Could we be looking at a minor malfunction?"

"No Kim, I also don't detect any large creature in the area, certainly nothing large enough to threaten you. And I do confirm that the Kimmunicator is detecting small creatures just beyond the clearing and deeper in the forest itself, but somehow they're not making any sound. And if it's working well enough to detect small objects, it couldn't be missing even larger ones. I have to admit that I don't really understand what is happening-"

"Wade, we're both idiots!" declared Kim as she slapped a free left hand against her forehead with the sudden realization of the truth. The answer is staring us in the face!"

"What do you mean, Kim? What are we missing?"

"There is a large creature in the area that the MK cannot detect. But you don't have to panic and push the 'Retrieve' button Wade; I am in no danger from the creature in question."

"UUhhh, why not, Kim? How can you be so sure? "

"Because I'm that creature! Wade, the Multiversal Kimmunicator is not detecting anything because the large creature in question is holding the Multiversal Kimmunicator."

"Oh! You're right, Kim; I just never thought of you as a large creature."

"Just keep that line of thought in your head, Wade, and you'll make your future girlfriend very happy someday." quipped Kim. "And if she ever asks you whether a new piece of clothing makes her look fat, just tell her that she looks beautiful in it."

"Good to know. I'll try not to 'crash and burn' then," acknowledged Wade, thankful yet again for the umpteenth time that he had made the acquaintance of the young girl who was now known by her world as the teen heroine Kim Possible. In the midst of an unprecedented adventure to a brave new world, the teenager was taking time to give him useful advice for use in his far future (well, maybe, his not-so-far-future) relationships with friends of the female persuasion.

Returning to the current sitch at hand, Wade confirmed Kim's thoughts on the question regarding the "unseen large creature".

"You're right, Kim; the MK would normally exclude you unless you turned it either to self scan mode or omni-scan mode."

"True, Wade, and couple that fact with the idea that between a door of light appearing out of nowhere in a peaceful, but anything but, quiet glen, and soon after that a fairly large 'thing' is then stepping through it, makes it perfectly clear why everything near me is now carefully minding its own P's and Q's"

"I'm really sorry, Kim, I really should have realized that sooner."

"So not the problem, Wade," replied the redheaded teenager, cheerful that the mystery was now solved. "We're both learning things as we are going along this multi-sitch mission, no matter how much we practiced for this and how much we thought we had everything prepared."

Kim paused for a few seconds, then, smiling at her friend on the MK screen, continued.

"Well, Wade, with that mystery solved, I'm sure all the forest sounds will comeback almost as soon as I leave the clearing and head off to see if I can find the object I need to get before moving on to phase two of Sitch Two world's mission."

"Yeah, sure, Kim, that's exactly right on again; I'm just sorry that I didn't…"

"No problem, Wade! Sometimes you just need to do on the job training," replied Kim joyfully, as she headed off in the direction of the babbling brook.

Soon after Kim left, sound quickly returned to the clearing. And, along with the birds chirping, bees buzzing, and frogs croaking, it also seemed that a strange chattering could also be heard. Unbeknownst to Kim, who had always claimed to be "just an average girl", she was now the stuff of legends, and many of the inhabitants of that area would, over the ensuing years, regale their descendants and visitors with the retelling of the day that the furry-topped "mobile mountain" appeared without warning to briefly terrorize the peaceful "true people" before departing for lands unknown and far away. Some of the braver storytellers, who actually been courageous enough to quietly poke their heads out and view the immense creature more directly, indicated that the terrifying living mountain had almost appeared to look like a real person, but was terrifically distorted in size. Many of them also enjoyed shocking their listeners by noting that the fur on top of the monstrous being was blood colored and wondering whether this was due to the many unfortunate creatures it had consumed in other far lands. A few of the storytellers, however, noted that it had not killed any of the people who had observed its arrival as it had slowly emerged from a leaf-thin and ghostlike cloud that itself appeared without warning, so perhaps it was not a true monster, but only a frightening mimic of one. Others warned of the possible dangers should the giant creature ever return. And one even gave the unusual opinion that if the creature ever returned, it would be there to help and not to hurt. Of course, no one took her seriously; how could any creature that large want to help anybody as small as them? Large was dangerous, large was frightening, and everyone else was very happy that the creature had gone away and had never come back….

Carefully moving through the forest towards the sound of the running water, Kim quickly arrived at the edge of a small stream at a point just slightly downstream of a small waterfall. She also quickly located the target of her search, trapped against some rocks in the stream. It was useless where it was, and Kim's current mission was to take it to where it would do some more good. The action girl in her wanted to move fast, and finish the mission quickly, but her other two facets advised caution in all her motions in this world. Remembering the impact that just her arrival had caused in the clearing, action girl ceded the point to her other facets, and tempered her speed a bit. She certainly did not want to cause fear or worse to the ones she was trying to help.

Then, carefully grabbing the object and holding it tightly, the redheaded teenager set off to take it to a place where it could possibly "save the day"…

….Meanwhile, at the location in question, sadness permeated the area, and the conversation was far from a joyful one.

"I'm sorry, Tink, we searched the entire stream for the treasure box, "said Silvermist, tears streaming down her face as she told one of her best fairy friends very bad news. "Rosetta, Iridessa, Fawn, and Vidia helped me check out every possible location between here and the Great Falls, but we couldn't find even a trace of it. I'm afraid that yesterday's thunderstorm-caused flash-flood that washed the box into the quickly swollen stream also pushed it over the Great Falls themselves."

Tinker Bell bowed her head, and acknowledged her friends' efforts to help. "I know, Sil, and I thank you and my other friends for doing what you could to find the box. I just wish you could have gone beyond the Great Falls to find it; I'm sure it must have come to rest somewhere. It may even be at the base of the Falls themselves…."

"But we can't go there, Tink," interrupted Rosseta, hating deeply having to cause pain by stating the obvious. "The Queen's proclamation clearly states that we're not to go beyond the Great Falls…."

"I know, I know, responded the crest-fallen tinker fairy, but I just wish it wasn't so. It just seems so unfair..."

Queen Clarion had declared the region beyond the Great Falls a forbidden zone until the end of the summer season. She had not given a reason for this edict, and many had cautiously questioned why the area was now "off-limits". But most had accepted the proclamation without significant protest, since almost all felt that Queen Clarion always had the best interests of her subjects in mind as she ruled over them. "She must know something that we don't, and that's good enough reason for me" was the most commonly voiced statement in support of the queen's action.

Tinker Bell and her friends had been among those who had accepted the restriction without major complaint (after all, it was "only for the summer"), but the lost box of treasure had now raised the issue of conflicting priorities and needs to a new level. What would the tinker fairy do now?

"…but I know the Queen must have a good reason for her order, and I won't ask any of you to disobey it..."

Tinker Bell suddenly noticed there was absolute silence-her friends were all holding their breaths! She raised her head, and was shocked to see near absolute fear on all of her companions' faces.

"And I will not disobey the order either!"Quickly added the tinker fairy in an emphatic tone, realizing that her reputation for sometimes acting without giving said action due thought had caused her friends to become fearful that she was about barge off on a one fairy rescue mission into the forbidden zone.

As smiles replaced the fearful looks on her fairy friends faces, she realized she had guessed right about their concerns, and that she had responded correctly to reassure them regarding that issue.

Unfortunately, that brief happy moment was quickly spoiled by Vidia. The fast-flying fairy truly cared about Tinker Bell's well being, but took extraordinary pains not to admit it. As a result, her own statement on the matter was not one of a conciliatory and uplifting nature.

"Besides, dear, there were only useless things in that dirty old box. It's no great loss, after all.

"Vidia, that's a terrible thing to say!" Shouted Rosetta, in response to the other fairy's words. She herself tended to judge a "book by its cover" too often, and she had also considered the box belonging to Tinker Bell to be almost criminally unattractive. However, Rosetta appreciated that tinker fairies had a different standard of what was "beautiful", and she also realized that this loss had deeply affected one of her friends. She could not stand by and say nothing.

"I agree!" Added Fawn, an animal fairy. "Taking 'things' from a tinker fairy is like taking away animals from me, flowers from Rosetta, water from Silvermist, or open space from you, Vidia! How well could you practice your own skills if you were stuck in a small cave that made it impossible to fly straight for more a second or two without hitting the wall, forcing you to fly in circles only 10 fairies wide in diameter?"

Vidia was takened aback by the one-two verbal punches from two of Tink's other friends. Perhaps she had misjudged the timing of her tart remarks. This opinion quickly received additional support from two other speakers.

"I also agree with Rosetta and Fawn" said Iridessa, a light fairy who also deeply appreciated the inner light in those around her. She also tended to be a bit of a worry wart, and she was now greatly concerned about the dimming of Tinker Bell's own inner light in the aftermath of this notable loss. "And you couldn't even practice in Fawn's 'small cave' without light to show you the walls-you'd quickly be covered by more bruises and cuts than you could count!"

"Vidia," started Silvermist, "we all need things to do what we do, and we almost always need different things from what other fairies need."

The water fairy then turned back to her saddened friend to address her own regrets regarding the loss itself.

"And I'm so very sorry, Tink, that I didn't know that the flood waters had taken your precious box away. I'm not sure if even my water talents would have been strong enough, but I would have done all I could to guide it to safety, and I'm sure that Marina and my other water fairies would have done all that they could help."

"I know Sil, I know. And I realize that it wasn't the prettiest box in Pixie Hollow, but what was in it was very precious to me, nevertheless. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I appreciate that all of you, including Vidia, did your best to help me. I think-"

"What was that?" interrupted Fawn, as the ground briefly shook.

"A tree fell nearby?" Opined Iridessa, who then immediately winced as she saw Rosetta's facial response to the statement. A garden fairy never liked to think of any harm occurring to any of its "charges" or related members in the plant world.

"Two trees?" Questioned Silvermist, as the ground shook a second time. "That's impossible, isn't it, Rosetta?"

Before the increasingly shocked Rosetta could respond, the ground shook a third time.

"No, not tree-fall…tree-kill!" Screamed Rosetta (the legend of the Beast, an animal so large that no tree could bear its touch, sprung to her mind, and that thought also echoed in the minds of her companions as the vulgar word "tree-kill" touched their own memories and released the terrifying story of the "Thing that could not Be!").

"No, none of my animal friends would do that to a tree! Not ever!" Exclaimed Fawn, increasingly fearful that, somehow, she would soon be shown to be horribly wrong, as some Thing that dwarfed her friend animals appeared to terrorize all living things.

A fourth, a fifth, and a sixth ground shake were felt by Tinker Bell and her companions, the intensity building with each occurrence.

"It's almost like footsteps…" opined the tinker fairy, her sorrow over the lost treasure box temporarily overwhelmed by the rising concerns of her friends and herself over this increasingly puzzling situation now developing. "But how could anything that big even move-?"

Tinker Bell suddenly noticed that her friends' jaws had dropped, and their eyes pupils had narrowed, even as their eyes had widened, and their faces displayed absolute terror.

"As with one voice, they all shrieked in terror and flew away from Tink quickly, with Vidia clearly the fastest of the rapidly departing group.

Tink was so shocked by their actions that she herself froze up, and did not even attempt to follow them in their panicked flights.

Another footstep ground shake, and then, nothing; there were no additional ground shakes. The "foot-stepper" had stopped moving.

She slowly turned to face the footsteps' owner, and then froze again, unable to move a single muscle, or make a single sound.

It appeared to rise up to the sky, immensely huge, unimaginably large. And it was less than two footsteps away from crushing her into nonexistence.

Tinker Bell then realized that the failure to promptly follow her friends was the last mistake she would ever make. There was no way that she could escape now. Not from that…"Thing". It was all over, now.

The creature, stopped less than 100 fairy heights away from her, began to speak. Even through her overwhelming fright, Tinker Bell could understand the giant being quite well.

"P L E A S E D O N ' T B E A F R A I D , T I N K E R B E L L . M Y N A M E I S K I M B E R L Y A N N E P O S S I B L E , A N D I ' M H E R E TO H E L P A N D N O T T O H U R T."

"Help… me…?" Squeaked Tinker Bell, having put her hands over her ears to deaden the sound level of the giant creature's speech. She was also very confused: why would a monstrous giant even bother to try to convince her that it was there to help her before devouring her?

"Yes, I found something that belongs to you, and I thought it best to get it back to you soon as I could. Here, let me put it down on the ground next to you so that you can check it out, and make sure that everything's okay."

Tinker Bell took her hands away from her ears as she realized that the giant creature had softened its voice and was speaking at a more normal rate. Her fear induced paralysis of the rest of her body also lessened a bit, allowing her to move her head to follow the giant's bending down in order to place a fairly large object near her. It was her treasure box, her lost treasure box, the one she had thought was gone forever!

Her joy at the reappearance of the lost box completely canceled out her paralysis and she quickly flew to the top of the box, completely forgetting that this brought her almost directly into contact with the giant creature itself, who had not yet moved its hands away from the box that it had been holding up to now.

This loss of fear and period of forgetfulness was indeed only momentary, and she once again froze in abject fear after she had reached the box top and realized that she was now only 20 fairy Heights away from the face of the giant creature, and practically right next to two gigantic hands.

Even gripped by her great fear, the tinker fairy was able to make an interesting observation: the giant was actually a giantess. The face that calmly observed her was indeed female, as was her monstrously large torso. Tink was not sure whether her fear was somehow lessening because she now felt a possible kinship with the huge being in front of her, or because she was now accepting her eminent death at the creatures' hands. She was even able to muse about whether the creature had brought her the box to make her happy before it consumed her. After all, her friend Rosetta told bedtime stories to her beloved potted plants to make them happier plants; might not a predator do the same for its meal-to-be?

But the female creature made no move to claim its "just desserts". Tinker Bell began to wonder if it was waiting a little while longer so that the fear in her would fade away and not spoil her delicious meal. Strangely enough, this one thought banished the remaining fear in her instead of intensifying it as she might otherwise have thought it would. With a haunting certainty that these would be the last sentences she would ever speak, the tinker fairy addressed the giantess with a very calm voice.

"You know, mighty giantess, I probably will not taste as good as I look. Are you sure I couldn't offer you some delicious strawberries or lemons instead?" Tink half expected the response to be: "no, you'll do fine", followed by a quick gulp, as the giant female decided to delay the inevitable no longer.

Instead, the tinker fairy observed that the giant female's face began to contort itself, and she was shocked to see a look of revulsion and surprise appear on her "dining companion"'s face. But, as she tried to puzzle out whether it was the strawberries or lemons that had particularly caused a change in expression, the face changed again, and the giant female appeared to be smiling instead. Tink's increasing confusion was finally put to rest as the giantess spoke again.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Tinker Bell, but my doctor has me on a strict fairy-free diet. I can't even have one fairy per week. Besides, if I do get a little hungry, I can always chow down on this energy bar instead."

The giantess then reached into a pocket in her clothing, and pulled out a rectangular solid object that was as big as Tink and five of her best friends put together. She placed the object right next to the tinker fairy, and moved her giant hand away.

Tinker Bell walked over to the object and closely examined it. As she did so, the giantess asked her a question.

"Is it all right with you if I sat down on the ground? I think I would not look quite as large, and I may be less frightening to you if I'm closer to the ground."

For some reason that she could not really understand, Tink was no longer truly frightened by the presence of the immense female, and she replied, matter-of-factly, "of course, giantess, please sit down."

As the creature gently sat itself down on the ground, Tinker bell spoke again to the visitor.

"You know, giantess, your 'energy bar' doesn't seem to be giving off any energy; is it broken, or did I misunderstand what you called it earlier?" Tink looked away from the bar and at the recipient of her question, and waited for an answer.

"No, Tink, the energy bar is not broken, but I'm afraid that there is a misunderstanding involved here. We call it an energy bar not because it gives off energy in its current condition, but because it gives us extra energy after we consume it. Are you able to read human writing, or rather, human printing?"

"No, I cannot, but I do recognize these markings as being human lettering. What do they mean?"

"Well, these markings indicate that some of the ingredients of this bar include sugar, honey, peanuts, chocolate, figs, dates, and apples. Oh, and by the way, please call me Kim."

"OK, Kim, I will." Agreed the tinker fairy, now marveling at the fact that she still felt no fear as she talked with this extremely large creature so close to her. Was it because this "Kim" now somehow appeared to be no more or less than a giant wingless fairy? Was it because her friendliness exuded from her like light from Blaze? For whatever the reason, Tinker Bell now felt a little silly at ever having been frightened of the red-haired female. And she was now able to voice a question that had been buzzing around her head since she had squeaked "help me?" right after Kim had politely (though loudly) first introduced herself.

"Kim, since you weren't doing it to get a 'free meal', why did you decide to help me out and bring my wonderful box of things back to me? How could I possibly reward or pay you back for what you have done for me and my fairy friends? This box will help me help them in so many different ways. I don't know what I can do for you that could even begin to equal what you have done."

"So not the Drama or the Mystery" answered Kim. I decided to help you because I saw that you could use a little help with this sitch-"

"Sitch?" Questioned Tinker Bell, wondering if she had heard Kim correctly.

"Oh, sorry, Tink, it's the way I usually say 'situation'; I save three syllables that way. It's sort of like saying 'Tink' instead of 'Tinker Bell'." The fairy noticed that Kim suddenly displayed an apologetic look and seemed to be readying a question for her.

"By the way, it is alright that I call you Tink instead of your full name? I know it's your nickname but I didn't double check with you before using it."

"So not the Drama" answered Tinker Bell, who almost laughed out loud as she saw Kim's smile widened upon hearing the fairy re-using a portion of the human's own recently used phrases. "You are most welcome to use my nickname, especially since you've allowed me to use your nickname. Besides, despite the fact that only a short while ago I was frozen in abject terror when I first saw you, I somehow feel very comfortable talking to you right now. It's almost as if there was some sort of connection between us."

"You mean sort of like we belong to the same extended family, but that this is the first time we're having some sort of long delayed family reunion?"

"Yes, exactly that!" Exclaimed Tink. "Do you feel it too?"

"I think so, and I do have a theory or possible explanation for why we may feel that way, but I must warn you that it's going to sound awfully weird."

"Weirder than a fairy talking to a human in Pixie Hollow?"

"Now, that's a good point" responded Kim, chuckling lightly. "Just remember that I warned you it might sound weird, and that it's only a theory, not a fact. In our own case, it might just be that, except for the obvious size difference, you and I are actually very much alike."

"You mean, like you're a giant, wingless, fairy?" Asked the tinker fairy, who then quickly added, apologetically, "No offense intended, of course!"

"Or like you're a tiny, winged, human?" Countered Kim, who then also quickly added, also apologetically, "No offense intended, of course!"

This mimicking response was just too much for Tinker Bell, who was seized by a fit of uncontrollable laughter and who quickly found herself flat on her back, trying to catch her breath. If the giantess—er, Kim had wanted to relax the fairy to "increase her flavor", now would be the perfect time for a "quick gulp" before Tink could even begin to regain control of herself.

"Hey, Tink, it wasn't THAT funny!" Said Kim, even though she had meant it to be light-hearted, and was herself giggling a little in reaction to her own quip and to the fairy's apparently over the top response.

"I'm sorry, Kim, between what we were just talking about the possible connection between us, and how you reversed the you/me comparison AND how I'm no longer terrified by you or your size, I just couldn't help myself" apologized the tiny fairy, as she slowly began to regain control of herself.

"So that's the sitch, eh?" responded the teen adventuress, happy that the "very little person with wings" was past her fear of the "giant wingless fairy".

"Yes, that's the sitch!" confirmed Tinker Bell, now firmly back in control, but still smiling broadly at the redheaded visitor. "Now, tell me about the weird connection between us…"

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure" reaffirmed the perky pixie, eager to hear more from her newest friend. "After all, you did say it was just a theory. If I don't agree with it, I could always say that you or it was 'all wet'."

Tink paused for a moment, then added "However, that would more likely be said by Silvermist; she's very much into all things watery".

Kim's face darkened for a moment at the mention of one of the fairy's friends, and she began a long delayed, but heart-felt, apology to her newest friend.

"Tink, I'm so very sorry that I so seriously frightened all of your companions. After my experience in the clearing near the base of the waterfall, I thought that if I walked more slowly, and clearly displayed that I was bringing you an object you all recognized, it would minimize the level of panic. Obviously, that didn't play out that way. Please let your friends know how sorry I am for causing such a scare with all of you. I really don't like terrifying the people I'm trying to help."

"That's okay Kim, for a brief while, our apparent differences overwhelmed what we had in common. I will pass your apology to Silvermist, Rosetta, and the others. And I am sure that most, if not all of them, will also regret not having the chance to talk with you and thank you for helping me."

Tink suddenly leaped off the treasure box and flew up to within 2 fairy heights of Kim's face

"Now what about this weird connection" she added, as she placed her hands on her hips, reminding Kim of a picture she had seen in her own world of a non-flying pouting Tinker Bell. The redheaded teen smiled before she responded; it was so different to see the "real" fairy unknowingly imitate her cartoonish counterpart. It also reminded her how much she was learning during this Multiversing adventure.

Which included the fact that she would soon have to leave Tinker Bell and her Pixie Hollow world and return to her own world so that she could move on to the next alternate universe mission. The tick, tick, tick of a phantom clock echoed within her mind, and Kim was determined not to let time run out on her six-sitch-mission if she had any say about the matter. The still unanswered question in the back of her mind remained, however: In the end, how much say would she have in the matter at hand, and in the overall mission itself? That led to a second equally important question: What would or could she do when she found out the answer to the first one?

****To Be Continued****

(A/N #2: I saw that this second sitch was turning out to be at least a "double sized" chapter and decided that I would split it in two at this point, with part one of this mission completed, and part two and mission closure in progress. I will do my best to keep things on track in the next chapter and get Kim home before its end ["hey, you out there!...stop laughing so hard—it wasn't meant to be funny!"]. In the mean time, thanks again, in advance, for any reviews or PMs you may care to send my way on this chapter; they will be greatly appreciated)

Kim Possible and her friends © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Tinker Bell and her friends in Pixie Hollow © Disney (Tinker Bell created by J. M. Barrie)

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same.


	8. Chapter 8

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 8:

Sitch 2 World: A Frenzy of Fairies?

(A/N: Kim Possible has just returned a lost treasure box to a tiny fairy named Tinker Bell and has also successfully calmed the little person's fears about the "giant" redheaded visitor from a far away land. Can our heroine quickly wrap up the current sitch and move on to her third mission after returning home, or will a surprise crisis arise to delay her departure? And will this possible delay threaten her success in a not yet encountered reality? All that can be said for sure is that time is passing in this second AU and on her mission clock, and that total mission success is far from assured. Now, let's rejoin our teen hero as she endeavors to explain to her newest friend a strange connection that may exist between the two of them. Thanks in advance for reading and reviewing and any PMs you choose to send….And now, back to our newest comedy and drama team of Kim and Tink in Pixie Hollow….)

With the image and sounds of a ticking clock inspiring her to move forward with the current sitch, but also wishing to properly explain her thoughts on the question under discussion, Kim decided that a little audio visual presentation was in order. She hoped that she would be able to avoid any "TMI" moments with her new friend while doing so, but she also realized that she had never discussed the Multiverse with a real live fairy before, so there was no guarantee about how her talk with Tink would develop once she began. It could turn out to be a quite interesting sitch in itself.

Kim thought for a few moments, and then decided how to start that talk on the right foot.

"Well, Tink, I think it might be best if I borrowed three of those acorns on the ground and place them on the top of your box" started Kim, as she gently leaned over to grab the indicated items."

Tinker Bell calmly moved out of the Kim's way as she did so, flying back to the top of the box. There, the fairy first landed on her feet, then sat down and pulled her knees towards her chest, awaiting the redheaded teenager to complete her own actions.

Kim placed the three acorns almost within reach of Tinkerbelle with her right hand, spacing them so that there was a one acorn gap between each of the three acorns, and lining them up so that a line drawn to the three of them would point directly towards Kim.

The tiny tinker fairy, whose bent knees and chest alignment also pointed towards the giantess, turned her head to her own right to regard the three acorns and waited for the teen to begin her explanation. A very small part of her wailed about the potential danger if her "friend" wasn't for real, but the rest of her retorted that if that had been the case, the hand that had just dropped the acorns could easily have helped itself to a quick snack. The wailing halted totally when Kim began to speak.

"Okay, please imagine that this acorn furthest from me is your world, your universe. Pixie Hollow, the mainland, the water between both regions, the other bodies of water, the Sun, the Moon, and the stars in the night sky."

Tink stopped clasping her left knee to her right knee with her right hand and forearm, and moved her right hand so that it wound up pointing at the indicated acorn, un-bending her right elbow as she did so.

"So this is my whole existence, everything I can see or touch here in my beautiful Pixie Hollow or on the mainland, or the things I can see, but not touch, like the bright Sun, or the beautiful Moon, or the many tiny stars. And this acorn?" She then asked as she indicated the one acorn closest to her own.

"Is my whole existence," Started Kim, calmly. "Everything I can see or touch, in my beautiful hometown of Middleton, or other cities or places on my world, or other things that I can see, but not touch, like my bright Sun or beautiful Moon or MY many seemingly tiny stars-"

"Seemingly tiny?" Interrupted Tinker Bell, sensing another mystery in addition to the "three acorn" one that she was struggling to understand with her large friend.

"Well, do you remember how your friends rapidly got smaller as they flew away when I unintentionally frightened them?"

"Yes! Vidia most of all—she soon appeared almost as tiny to Iridessa as I am to you…" Tink's voice trailed off, and her eyes grew large as Kim's analogy finally struck home.

"If the bright Sun flew away…?" Started Tink

"It would grow smaller also, until it became…" Kim continued, slowly and gently.

"As small as a…star?" Completed Tink, partially proud that she had made the connection that her newest friend had wanted her to make, but now somewhat fearful in a completely different sort of way. As many others before her had found out (in this reality and in so many others), dealing with a truly immense universe that she was a small part of was even more intimidating than simply dealing one to one with a friendly person that was far larger than she. She comforted herself by again briefly wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them even tighter up to her chest, almost as if she was trying to roll herself up like a pill bug.

Kim saw the tiny fairy's reaction, fully understood the cause, and immediately attempted to ease Tinker Bell's distress.

"TMI?" Asked the redhead.

"TMI?" Echoed the puzzled fairy. Ironically, her puzzlement regarding another strange word from her giant friend actually relieved the tension resulting from her new understandings, and she partially relaxed her self-hug enough to free up her right arm again, and she rubbed her head with her right hand.

"Too…Much…Information-TMI" explained Kim, expanding the three letter acronym to its original form, and then reusing it to cement a connection between the two.

"Yes, Kim, TMI indeed" answered Tinker bell. "Please remember that I'm trying to fit all your big person information into my little tiny head, and I am not sure I have enough room inside!" The little fairy smiled wanly as she concluded her statement, and tilted her small head to her right.

"Actually, Tink, I think you're doing rather well, considering everything."

"Thanks, Kim, but I also appreciate your patience with me." Tink paused for a moment, and then refocused on her more immediate interests.

"And this third acorn? Not my…universe or world, and not your….universe or world, but a third…universe or world that has its own bright sun and beautiful moon and many 'apparently' tiny stars? And this third universe/world has something to do with that weird connection you said might exist between us? The little fairy was almost certain that this was the case, but she looked to her giant friend for some confirmation of her thoughts.

"Yes, Tink, that's exactly the case. You see, on the mainland of this third reality, a man named Walt Disney built a company that has decided to tell stories about you AND me. A redheaded teenage girl who saves the world almost every day, and a tiny tinker fairy that gets herself into and out of all types of trouble and mis-adventures. The amazing stories of Kim Possible and Tinker Bell on the Disney Channel! Many children watch us on the television every day."

"Channel?…Tele…vision?" Questioned Tink, trying her best to understand things, and only half- succeeding in that endeavor.

"It's a little hard to explain," Began the teenager, "but try to imagine a beautiful painted picture that suddenly came to life, almost like a theater show in a picture frame."

"Here," started Kim, again, realizing she had an example to show the curious fairy. "Television looks a lot like my Multiversal Kimmunicator, the device I used-"

Kim was cut off by Tink's reaction to the sight of the MK. When she first saw it in Kim's right hand after the teenager had pulled it out of her pocket, Tinker Bell had jumped up from the box top and flew directly to the Kimmunicator and landed right next to one of the keys. Kim could almost swear that the little fairy was almost drooling at the sight of her "new toy". It was definitely clear that she really liked what she saw, and was definitely trying to make sense of something that she had never seen before.

"Oh, Kim, it's so beautiful, it's so nice! It's-ohh, I'm sorry!" she said, suddenly realizing her unintentional faux pas, lifting her hands up and apologizing for touching her friend's equipment without permission (actually, almost crawling all over said equipment without permission in her excited rush to scrutinize something unlike anything she had ever seen).

"Hey, Tink, no Prob! Even in my own world, it's pretty special" reassured Kim. "Anyway, imagine this rectangle is that painting that I was talking about -"

"I didn't know you were a tinkerer, too! How did you make this wonderful-"

"Sorry, Tink, I didn't make this. My friend Wade did; you might want to think of HIM as a giant tinker fairy without wings-"

"Oh, I wish I could talk to him! I wish-"

"Say no more! Wish granted!" replied the red-haired teen heroine as she prepared to press the appropriate button. Suddenly anticipating a potential misunderstanding, she paused her pending button press to give the little fairy a verbal warning.

"By the way, Tink, although it may look like it, he's not stuck inside this little box. The moving painting is just showing you a view from our acorn; he's actually sitting on a chair in his computer room, watching you and me on his own 'moving painting'. He's-"

"Computer room? Questioned the tinker fairy, puzzling again over a half-understood phrase. "Is that where he adds numbers and does other arithmetic, or 'compute' mean something different on your acorn?"

"No, it means the same thing there, but 'computer' also is the name our acorn uses to describe things that sometimes look like this item with 'moving paintings'. It does add numbers and do other arithmetic, but also sometimes uses the numbers or the arithmetic to do other things, like making paintings move. And it can add lots and lots of numbers really fast, doing millions or billions of calculations in the time you take a single breath."

"Millions?...Billions?..." Tinker Bell yet again found herself struggling to understand her friend's strange words.

"Sorry, Tink, my bad." apologized Kim. "A million is a thousand thousands, and a billion is a thousand millions."

Then realizing that "thousand" might also need a little explanation, she continued "And a thousand is-"

"I do know what a thousand is, Kim; I just never really needed to count up to a hundred thousands or more!" said the fairy, slowly coping with the realization that her big friend often dealt with equally big numbers. Then, thinking of another question, but somewhat fearful of the "possible" answer to it, she cautiously posed it to the redheaded teenager.

"Other than things that are done to 'move paintings', do you humans ever use the word 'billions' in your everyday life?"

"Well, yes, we do" answered Kim equally cautiously, recognizing, along with her fairy friend, the "TMI" potentials of any examples she might offer.

"Like what?" Tink leaned forward, but held tightly to her knees to hopefully better handle the answer. After all, an exploding head would so ruin her day, as well as that of her newest friend.

"Like tracking how many fellow humans share my world with each other." Kim displayed a sincere look of sympathy towards the tinker fairy, both understanding what the next question would be and only one already knowing the answer.

"And how many 'billions' of humans are there…on your world?"

"About…six." Kim hoped the answer would not cause Tinker Bell to "lose it".

"Really, only six? Not twelve, or twenty, or a hundred? Gosh, so not the Drama, then!"Concluded the little fairy, displaying a very big smile.

"Are you okay, Tink? TMI?" Kim inquired, fearful that her little friend's apparent "handling" of the answer might only be a new way of "losing it".

"Yes, but just barely, Kim. I think it helped that it was a number I could hold in my two tiny hands." Answered the fairy, holding up the five fingers of her right hand and the thumb of her left. "But, if it's okay with you, I think I'll stop asking questions that lead to big numbers. If I'm not careful, I'll ask a question that will result in me finding out that even 'billion' is too small a number…"

Kim closed her eyes, saying nothing. Tinker Bell, seeing the look on her face, understood the silent answer as clear as a clanging bell, and exclaimed in response: "Really?...What-?"

"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies" answered the closed eye redhead, borrowing a oft used phrase from her home reality to hopefully diffuse the stress on the little fairy, who was trying so hard to understand, including things that had challenged others far more technically knowledgeable than her.

Kim suddenly felt two tiny hands on her nose, and opened her eyes to see that a very concerned fairy had flown from her treasure box top to comfort the teenager! Tinker Bell was actually trying to move her nose back and forth like she had, on occasion, done with her boyfriend's own head to get him focused on something she wanted to tell me. However, the disparity between Kim's and Tink's sizes and masses were so great that Kim's nose did not move, and the little fairy's hovering body swayed back and forth instead.

It was almost a sideways version of some of Kim's own gym exercises with parallel bars, hanging rings, or other physical education equipment. She smiled a little at the comparison, and smiled even more as she realized that she was being forced to cross her own eyes in order to focus on the gyrating pixie fairy.

"Come on, Tink, I'm okay; I just didn't want to either lie to you or overload your mind with the true answers. And could you back off a little bit so I don't wind up with eyes stuck like this forever?"

Two tiny hands released her nose and Tinker Bell's non-stop laughter simultaneously started after the tinker fairy had briefly glanced back and forth between Kim's eyes, recognized the similarity between her giant friend's current predicament and previous situations involving her and/or her fairy friends, and had found it outrageously funny. As she flew far enough away from Kim's nose to permit the teen eyes to assume a more relaxed appearance, Tink continued to marvel that she had ever been frightened by her newest and biggest friend.

As her laughter ended, a now stationary but still hovering Tink worked hard to catch her breath so she could make a quick apology.

"I'm so sorry, Kim, but you really did look so funny, I just couldn't hold it in!..."

"So not an issue, Tink. And at least it helped us both defuse a potential TMI issue regarding big numbers and the like. I so do not want to leave my newest friend with a terminal case of brain-lockup.

"And my other friends finding a tinker fairy on her found treasure box with an exploded head would be none too happy either."

"I guess the pressure was building up there a bit, eh?" Said Kim, sympathetically. "Okay, then, no more big numbers…"

Tinker Bell sighed, and began speaking with a voice touched by mixture regret and sadness.

"Oh, Kim, your world sounds so amazing and marvelous, so much more than mine with our simple little Pixie Hollow, and even our world's 'mainland' is a pale shadow of yours. I think that the human population of my world is only in the millions or maybe tens of millions. I'm still really bewildered as to why you would ever leave that wonderful world for someplace like my Pixie Hollow?

"Well, Tink, it all started with my boyfriend and the second PDVI incident involving cable television…"began an increasingly cautious teenager.

She quickly told the story of how she almost lost Ron to the third acorn that thought both of them to be cartoonish and/or imaginary characters, how Wade had studied the PDVI and developed the MK to permit her to travel to other realities, and included her six sitches mission "one-time only" agreement with Wade, as well the takeover of the mission commander spot by her mother. She concluded her summarized tale by describing the first completed sitch, the second sitch that she was now in and brief descriptions of the four remaining sitches.

Since she had managed to do so without big numbers, Tinker Bell was only totally amazed and not shell shocked at the end of Kim's tale, and was even feeling more comfortable with understanding things like "Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer" and "11-dimensional lock-ons" (yes 11 was more than 10, but the toes on both of her feet were more than happy to help prevent pixie fairy head explosions-Tink had even managed to throw in several "No Big"s to assure Kim how well she was coping.)

"Wow, Kim, that Mr. Luthor was certainly a bad example of a human, but what you have planned for third and fifth sitches...!" Exclaimed Tinker Bell, as Kim concluded her "six-sitch-mission-plan summary"; she was very concerned that her amazing friend might just be taking on a little too much, even for her and her "I can do anything" attitude.

"Well, Tink, I do have to prove that I can handle a variety of sitches, just in case another PDVI-type incident throws Ron or Mom or Dad or someone else out of my reality into another one. In that instance, I won't be able to pick and choose which world I go to, and if I don't do it right when it counts, I could lose somebody really important to me or to someone else in my world."

Kim paused for a few moments, thought of an example, and then resumed speaking, using extreme caution as she did so.

"Remember how bad you felt when you thought you had lost your treasure box?"

Tink slowly nodded her head. How could she ever forget that terrible feeling?

"And there were only things in that box. How much worse would you feel if any of your friends were in the box when it floated away, or that you had lost one or more of your friends to a bad human who scooped them up and walked away with them? Wouldn't YOU do almost anything to help get them back to Pixie Hollow?" Asked the redheaded teen of her tiny fairy friend.

As Tinker Bell closed her eyes and her brow then furrowed in thought, Kim suddenly realized that she might have set her tiniest friend on a TMI-type collision course despite her care in describing the sitch as it was…

"Errr, Tink, on second thought, don't think about it too much; in fact, don't think about it at all-"

"Too late, Kim" responded the little fairy in an almost emotionless voice. And then she opened her eyes.

Kim was shocked at what she saw…

She had never seen the tinker fairy with this particular expression, but the expression itself was very familiar to the teen heroine.

Tinker Bell now had the exact look on her face and in her eyes that Kim had when she had begun working with Wade to rescue Ron from the third acorn world-the "I will do anything to get my Ron back" look made the tiny fairy almost seem to be an entirely different person. The intensity displayed in her normally joy-filled face caused Kim to wonder whether her own "Kimness transfer" could have potentially more disruptive impact on her new friend than the "big numbers/little head" crisis encountered not so long before.

"I…I'm sorry Tink, I didn't mean to-" Kim, starting her apology, was cut off by Tinker Bell as she started her response to the redheaded teen.

"No Big, Kim; I just now truly realized what you were trying to show me. You see, I have a friend named Terence. I'm not fully sure about me and him, but I think that he might be a little Ron with wings, if you'd know what I mean."

"Oh-kaayy…" Kim didn't know what else to say; she still worried about a potential looming TMI event.

"And if anything ever happened to him, or to Iridessa, or Fawn, Rosetta, Silvermist, or even Vidia, I would do whatever I could to get him or them back. If they were in the box, I would've ignored the Queen's edict and have gone over the Great Falls themselves to get them back. It might have been a 'Great Fairy Rescue' indeed!"

The tiny fairy paused for another moment, then closed her eyes and resumed speaking.

"And if a bad human ever grabbed them, I would do everything within my power to save them. Kim, I would even dare to attack someone or something as big as you get them back, even if I realized that would probably result in me becoming a nice snack for that giant creature."

The tiny fairy paused again, then reopened her eyes and resumed speaking, staring intently but sympathetically at her newest friend's face.

"So I do understand that you have to do what you have to do on this six sitch mission, and that I cannot talk you out of it, no matter how much I might try. But please, Kim, try to be very careful out there in those other acorns as you do what you must do. Your own acorn is so very special, too, and what would they do if something happened to you, and you were no longer there to help them when they were in distress and sent out an 'SOS'?"

The question posed by the little fairy of course resonated with the teen heroine, and she responded affirmatively to her friend's encouragement of caution regarding her future endeavors.

"I will be careful out there, Tink, for that reason as well as for so many others. I am really looking forward to sharing a good evening out with Ron at Bueno Nachos after the sixth sitch is done. For his sake, and that of my mother's, I do want to return home in one piece, ready and eager to respond to the next 'SOS', whenever and wherever my world is in distress. I am also glad that you do appreciate why I do the things I do."

Then, lightening the tone a bit, she added, "And it looks like your little head is still intact!"

Kim turned slightly more serious with her next statement to the tiny winged person.

"But, Tink, please remember this: my world may well be wonderful and special and truly amazing to you and your friends if you ever visited there, but you should also know that the reverse is true as well."

"What do you mean, Kim?"

"Your world is ALSO wonderful and special and would be truly amazing to my friends and the people of my world if they ever visited here. In fact, many of the people in my world might prefer your world to mine. We sometimes consider our world too complicated at times, and often wish for a simpler world to escape to and hide away from our not always wonderful sitch."

Pausing for another moment to summarize her thoughts, Kim then resumed.

"So don't you EVER consider your world less special than any other! Not mine, not Mr. Disney's world, not anybody else's. You see Tink, I'm the first to admit that my world does sorta rock, but it's true that your world rocks big time, too! In fact, part of my 'mission' is proving that all of our worlds are just as real and just as precious as each other. 'Imaginary' is only a word that describes how we view some items within our own particular reality; it has no true or absolute meaning-"

"I understand, Kim; it's all a matter of perspective, I guess." Tink paused to collect her thoughts. "but please, Kim, do be very careful out there as you fix those sitches…"

The teenager prepared to reassure her friend again, but before she could, a look of astonishment appeared on Tinker Bell's face, and she blurted out a statement equally astonishing.

"I just realized something! You denied it before, and maybe you really don't see it this way, but, Kim, you are a tinker! But you're a very special type of tinker! Regular tinkers like me fix things or build things, but you don't fix problems with things; you fix problems with people and problems with sitches! You help me…your boyfriend…your world! And, if they ever really needed it, you'd even help those same Disney company people that don't think you're real! You're a Sitch Tinker!" exclaimed the little fairy, extremely proud of herself that she might have made a discovery that had eluded her huge companion

"What do you mean, Tink?" Asked Kim, a little uncertain about the new phrase. Was this a case of "turn-about is fair play"?

Tinker Bell attempted to explain or clarify the matter further for her slightly confused friend, smiling broadly. The sandal was certainly on the other foot now!

"When things are broken, a tinker fairy fixes them. But you don't fix things…you fix sitches! Whenever or wherever stitches are broken, you fix them!"

"I'm not sure that I follow you, Tinker Bell." Said Kim, unconsciously rubbing her head as she tried to pull the pieces together. Tinker Bell smiled again briefly at the imitation of her own earlier actions before resuming her explanation. She also appreciated understanding better what the human girl had had to go through when she was trying to explain things to the tinker fairy earlier.

"When Luthor was hurting Superman and Supergirl, that was a really broken sitch. Then you went in and covered up the nasty green rock, and helped both of them feel better."

"And then I lost my treasure box, and I was feeling down and in distress. My sitch was really broken, and you came and fixed it!"

"Well, I guess-" started Kim, slowly realizing that the fairy might well have a point.

"So you are a situation tinker fairy without wings! You normally fix sitches in your own world, when Drakken or Shego or Dimentor start up a broken sitch. But because of that really broken sitch where Ron was lost in that Walt Disney Company world, you decided to work with Wade to see you if you could do a "Six Cases of Fixing the Sitch" mission so that you would be more confident that you really could always 'fix the sitch', no matter when and no matter where it actually was!

Tinker Bell was almost beaming as she continued.

"And Kim, that makes you really special, even if you don't think so. In fact, that refusal to think of yourself in that way makes you even more special. Vidia thinks she's all that and more, and never forgets to keep reminding others of that thought. But you keep on trying to tell everybody that you're just an average girl, even as you are doing things that are far from average!"

"So the reason that you're special is that you don't think you are!"

Kim decided that it was time it was time to concede the point; she had to admit to herself that she wasn't sure she could even begin to effectively make any counterpoint. She might actually have much more in common with the fairy than she had initially thought!

"OK, OK, Tink! I get it! So let's agree that you keep yourself safe for your world, and I'll keep myself safe for mine! Deal?"

"Deal, Kim!" Answered the fairy gleefully. "And I know you have to go soon, but can I see your Wade first?" Added Tinker Bell, accepting that Kim had to resume and complete her six sitch mission that would help fix yet another broken sitch.

"I promise that I won't let my head explode when you do finally let me see Wade on your Multiversal Kimmunicator! And I promise that I won't let the 'moving paintings' get to me and make me think he's trapped in this box-thing you're holding. After all, 'TV' is no big, right? It just lets you see things that are very very far away…like in another acorn!"

"Of course, Tink; just remember that this is only a moving painting image of him from our acorn."

"So not the drama, Kim!" shouted the tinker fairy, very eager to finally meet the one who had helped her new friend visit her world to help her.

"Okay, here we go!" replied the red-haired teen heroine as she finally pressed the button that opened a two way video link to her home reality and her residence computer genius friend.

As Wade appeared on the screen, Tink's first words were "Oh, Wade, Iridessa will be so unhappy that she missed you!"

Wade seemed confused, and asked "why is that, Tinker Bell?"

"She rarely gets a chance to see others with the same beautiful skin color that she has. For some reason, very few fairies here have the same color skin that Iridessa does. I tell her that's because she's a really special type fairy. She sometimes smiles at me and says that she could handle being a little less special at times. I think she feels a little lonely once in a while, and I'm sure she would have really enjoyed talking with you, even for only a little while, and…" Tinkerbelle's voice trailed off, as if she'd finally accepted something she'd been trying to ignore. Kim guessed at what it was, and realized it was time to leave.

"Well, Tink, it's been spankin', but I really gotta go! Four more sitches are awaiting me, and my boyfriend must be building up a really big appetite fighting all those video zombies and such on his computer games with his friend Felix. Besides, you have to go find your friends, and let them know you're alright!"

"I know, Kim, but I'll miss you!" exclaimed the little fairy, who then turned back to the screen on the MK and said "I will also miss you, Wade, even though I only talked to you for a few moments. Please be sure to take care of Kim on all her future trips and adventures!"

"I will, Tinker Bell! She's very special to me too!"

Tinker Bell then turned back to the teenager. "So, Kim, thanks again for helping me with my lost treasure box sitch, and for explaining so many things to me that I didn't even know I didn't know. Pixie Hollow will certainly never be the same without you!"

"You're right, Tink; for one thing, they'll be a lot more fairies flying around, and they will be a lot less scared!" replied Kim with a grin.

"That's not what I meant Kim, and you know it! I just hate saying goodbye to a really good friend from a very far away world. But I know you have to go and fix more sitches!"

Tinker Bell flew away from the MK, right up to Kim's nose. Holding the teen's nose with both of her hands as she had done earlier, but not attempting to move it, as she failed to do earlier, she gently kissed Kim on the nose tip, and then backed off to "uncrossed eyes" range.

Realizing the futility of an exact reversal of expression for parting due to the size differential, Kim instead gently kissed the tip of her own right index finger, and then very gently touched the same area of that finger gently on Tink's forehead.

"I will miss you also, Tink. Please try to hang onto the treasure box this time, won't you?" quipped the teenager, realizing a little humor at this point would probably keep this from becoming 'so the drama'.

"I'll try Kim, I really will try…" answered the tiny fairy, still taking the advice from her giant friend a bit too seriously. After all, Tinker Bell fully realized that she had been in a lot of situations stemming from "not being as careful as she should have been" in some instances.

Tinker Bell flew slowly away, and Kim slowly got up from ground as the fairy landed on her no-longer-lost treasure box.

"Tink, would you mind very much if I took these three acorns as souvenirs of my visit to pixie hollow? To help compensate for their loss, you can share with those that owned them some of my energy bar, okay? I'll take a very little bit of dirt as well, so that Wade can check it out against the dirt in our world. Part of my travels is simply to find out how much our worlds differ, and how much they are the same."

"Okay," agreed Tinker Bell, then added "and why don't I get you a beautiful flower as well so that you can take it to Wade to first enjoy the beauty, and then to study it! See if our flowers are like yours or if they're different!"

"OK, but only if it's not too much trouble…" cautioned Kim, not wishing to cause her newest friend any more trouble than absolutely necessary.

"No Prob, Kim," Tinker Bell answered, quickly flying to where one very small flower was waiting for use by a fairy and then bringing it back to Kim, who promptly added it to her sealable sample bag. Then, silently and slowly nodding her head to the tinker fairy one last time, Kim turned to leave both Tinker Bell and Pixie Hollow forever.

As Tinkerbelle waited patiently for her newest friend to open the special doorway of light and leave, an unusual thing occurred.

It appeared that a cloud of dust had suddenly enveloped Kim's head as she lifted the MK to activate the doorway home. Tinkerbelle blinked her eyes several times, thoroughly confused. The thunderstorm yesterday had drenched the entire area, where could a dust cloud have come from?

Tink realized with a shock that it wasn't a dust cloud at almost the exact time that Kim's first "Ouch!" reached her ears. The strange cloud was not of dust, but of hundreds of fast fluttering fairy wings! Her fairy friends were attacking her newest friend!

"No, stop; she's a friend, not a foe!" Shrieked Tink, as she leapt into the air, even as Kim dropped the MK to free up her hand to defend her face against the surprise attack.

The fairy attack continued without letup, however, and it appeared that Kim would be bested by the creatures a fraction of her size attacking en masse.

However, even as Tinker Bell flew towards the cloud of her friends to tell them to stop, the beleaguered teenager used her right hand to grab something from her backpack, and then smoothly whipped it around above herself as she dropped herself to the ground to briefly escape the cloud of frenzied fairies. The duel action strategy worked; the attackers had become the captured, and Tinker Bell then saw that her mission had changed. Instead of begging her other friends to avoid attacking her newest friend, she now needed to beg her newest friend to spare her other friends. But would her injured giant friend be in the mood for mercy?

With all the action and drama now at ground level, the little tinker fairy changed her ascending course, and headed straight towards the redheaded giant. As she approached Kim from above in order to talk to her face to face, Tinker Bell thought she heard a chuckle and what sounded like "…big surprises certainly can come in small packages…I guess it looks like I'll have to cede that point to Mom…".

The tiny fairy halted her descent and changed to hover-mode when she was at Kim's eye level. However, before she could speak to beg for her friends' freedom, and apologize for their misunderstanding of the real sitch, the teenager offered a comment as she noted Tinkerbelle's late arrival.

"It looks like your friends got a little tired of waiting for you to join them, Tink, and they came over to see what the sitch was. They apparently didn't see you sitting on the box and had thought that I had had you for a snack or had captured you and was taking you away."

Kim's smile was wide and friendly, and her face displayed no hint of the pain that she must have experienced when the many fairies had assaulted her moments before. Tinker Bell relaxed a little bit, realizing that Kim already understood the sitch and would not hold it against her friends.

I'm so sorry, Kim, but I'm glad you understand it was all a big mistake" apologized the chagrined tinker fairy.

"It's no Big, Tink, literally!" quipped the teen heroine, although she was secretly grateful that there hadn't been many more of them, and that her quick maneuver had captured all of them at the same time.

"Thank you very very much for understanding, Kim. Is it okay if I go to them and tell them that you will let them go in a little while, and that you're not going to have them for dinner? I'm sure that they must be as afraid of you now as I was when I first saw you, and you know how certain I was I was going to be your snack at any moment."

"Of course, Tink; in fact, I'll let them go right away, as soon as they agree they won't start attacking me again. Those needles that they used really pricked me good; I feel that they actually drew blood in some cases."

That last sentence made the tinker fairy take a closer look at her friend's face, and she saw many dots of red on the beautiful pink flesh colored surface. She quickly flew towards Kim's face, and before the teenager could warn her against doing so, she touched her tiny palm to one of them. When she pulled it back, she found her entire hand was covered in red!

Tinkerbelle was over whelmed by the sight of so much blood (at least by fairy standards), totally forgetting the great disparity between her giant friend and herself. As she fainted, her wings stopped fluttering, and unconscious fairy plunged towards the ground!

Kim wasn't sure if the drop would actually hurt Tinker Bell, but she chose not to chance that possibility. Her right hand quickly let go of her own end of the mosquito netting that she was still holding after putting Tinker Bell's friends on the ground for safekeeping following her quick capture of the attacking fairies, and quickly moved that hand to gently catch her newest friend.

"Tink, Tink, are you alright? Please be alright, Tink. Just remember, tiny Tinker Bell, that that big red drop to you is no big to me! I won't even notice losing it! Wake up, Tink….please!" The redheaded teen, her concern growing that the big red shock might be even more of a TMI moment than the big numbers and other issues had been. This supposedly simple and straightforward Sitch had certainly become quite complicated!

It was fair to say that as this little mini-drama between Tinker Bell and Kim was occurring, the fairy's captured friends were in quite a quandary. Despite Kim's release of the open end of the mosquito netting, they were still effectively trapped, since even the "open end" material had securely closed upon itself with the help of gravity and the ground, and the netting material was far too heavy for even ten of them working together to lift without extremely great difficulty . If the giant did not interfere with their attempted escape, the fairies working together could eventually remove themselves, but the weight of the fully collapsed open end precluded any easy exit in the immediate future.

In addition, it would be an understatement to say they were somewhat confused. After quickly escaping from the giant's original approach, they also almost as quickly realized that their friend Tinker Bell was not with them. Fearing her to be captured, or worse, Iridessa, Vidia, Rosetta, and the others had rallied tens of ferries to join them in a counterattack on the imagined tree killer. Vidia herself had been sent on to alert the Queen of the danger to Pixie Hollow, her famous fast flying skills proving to be of great value in this horrifying instance. She had streaked off to carry the message, flying faster than ever before, fearing that, even as she did so, it would be too late to help her friend in need.

They had, as Kim surmised, not noticed either the box or the fairy sitting on it, focusing instead on the departing, and probably slightly less hungry, monster. They had briefly gloried in their ability to cause the horrid creature pain and suffering, offering some sort of payback, however belated, for what their own poor friend must have gone through in her last moments. The creature's successful counterattack had surprised them, of course, and their easy capture led most to conclude that they would soon be joining their dear Tinker Bell in the monster's obviously massive stomach!

Their confusion increased greatly when some of the trapped fairies saw Tinker Bell first flying up and then back down to the creature itself. She was alive, and apparently free! What was going on here? Their bewilderment, confusion, and horror at the rapidly degrading situation rose to a fever pitch when their favorite fairy placed her hand to Kim's face and then apparently passed out. They were too far away to realize what had actually happened and had mistakenly thought that the mere act of touching the monster's face had been injurious to their free-flying friend. Another great splash of surprise when the giant dropped her end of the netting and quickly moved her hand to catch their friend before she hit the ground. Was this is a quick snack opportunity, with them being the main course saved for later? Had their friend been merely kept as bait only to allow the giant to attract the rest of them for a bigger meal? If that was the case, why did it seem concerned about their friend's fate? It was talking to her! What predator would talk to its prey? None of this was making any sense to any of those in the netting, but Iridessa did finally ask a question that gave some pause: "what if it's not really a monster?"

As the trapped fairy "flight wing" continued to ponder the matter and their possible fate, Tinker Bell slowly recovered from her stupor, and began to turn her head to look at her still red liquid covered right hand.

"No, Tink, don't look at your hand! Look at me instead, please; I don't want you to pass out again!"

Kim's voice carried to the trapped fairies, causing Rosetta to sob "I was wrong, it's not a tree-killer; it's just a giant creature that's now worried about Tinker Bell!"

Iridessa added an additional statement to concede further error. "And it's not an It, it's a she. And from this distance, it almost looks like she could be one of us, only without wings. I'm beginning to think that we've made a huge mistake!"

Meanwhile, Kim noted that the revived fairy had listened to her and focused her tiny eyes on the teen's face. Her tiny, tear filled eyes.

"Tink, please don't cry! I've bled a lot worse in some of my battles with Shego or Killigan!"Reassured Kim, using her left hand to grab a disinfectant wipe packet that she planned to first use on the tiny fairy's right hand. "If all that red was yours or another fairy's, then it would be a big. But since it's only my blood, it's no big!"

"You're wrong, Kim!" Replied Tinker Bell, in a voice loud enough for her trapped friends to hear her. "Blood of a friend is always a big thing, no matter what the size of the friend." The tiny fairy's tiny friends nodded their heads at the truth of that statement, also realizing that Tinker Bell's ability to talk to her giant friend in such a manner indicated that the giant creature was indeed friendly, and that they had seriously misjudged the huge visitor to their world.

"You do have a point." admitted Kim, as she deftly opened the packet using only the fingers of her left hand. "And I appreciate your concern, but I don't want you fainting every time I get a little cut. Now, here, hold out your hand and rub it on this disinfectant cloth. It will help you get off all that nasty looking Kimmie juice from your hand." The redheaded teen almost broke into a large smile as her own use of the diminutive form of her name caused her to remember the many times that Shego had wanted to get some Kimmie juice on her hands, but she resisted the urge as she concentrated on helping her little friend get a little cleaned up.

Tinker Bell complied, and her right hand was soon free of any trace of blood.

"Now, Tink, do you feel up to flying down to your friends and letting them know that I'll let them go in a few moments, and that I ask only that they don't start attacking me again?"

"Yes, Kim, I do…but your face!"

"Tell you what, Tink" started Kim. "As you fly down there to give them the good news about their early release, I promise to use the rest of this cloth to wipe off my face and make it look almost as good as new, okay?"

Tinker Bell slowly nodded her head, then took off and flew down to the ground and her net-bound friends. True to her word, Kim completed the opening of the folded cloth packet, and using both of her hands, cleaned off her face. She then opened a second packet and repeated the procedure, ensuring that her face no longer had any red 'dots' on it, and that she had thoroughly disinfected the minor puncture wounds that the fairies had inflicted. She then relaxed a bit while waiting for Tinker Bell to bring back the good news from her soon-to-be-released friends.

Tinker Bell had just finished talking to all her nearest friends at the edge of the netting, confirming that all would be released after agreeing to refrain from fighting the friendly giant any further, when they all heard another "Ouch!" from the nearby giant visitor. The tinker fairy found herself experiencing a severe case of "Déjà vu" issue as she again leaped into the air and flew towards her new friend and apparently another fervent fairy attacker. Big surprises in small packages, indeed!

Tinker Bell then gasped in surprise when she saw the identity of her newest friend's newest attacker. It was Vidia! Somehow the fast-flying fairy had not been caught with the others and had just begun renewing the attack. Because of the fairy's great speed and agility, Kim's unencumbered right hand had been unsuccessful in catching her current adversary. Vidia, of course, was enjoying this victory over the large creature, and had even begun taunting it.

"I'm too fast for you, giant, and you'll never catch me, not in hundred seasons! Not in a thousand seasons!"

Unfortunately for Vidia, she was so busy avoiding Kim's right hand, and so enjoying her taunting of the giantess' relative slowness, that she apparently forgot that the giant had two hands. So, as Vidia avoided Kim's right hand for the Nth time, her left hand seized the little fairy with the second cleaning cloth. Vidia's shock of being caught was quickly followed by her apparent acceptance that she would soon be joining her friend Tink in the stomach of her captor. However, she still had a defiant tone in a voice when she shouted at the giant "No fair! You tricked me! You had to use both hands to catch me! I'll keep fighting you and scratching you all the way down to your huge stomach! I'll give you a case of indigestion that you'll never forget! I'll-"

"Vidia, stop shouting at my friend Kim!" Shouted Tinker Bell, in turn, as she finally reached the lopsided battle scene. "She'll let you go if you agree not to attack her anymore. Everyone else she trapped earlier in the net has already agreed to stop attacking her if she opens up the net!"

"Tink? You're alive? But I thought -"

"You thought wrong, Vidia, but thanks for coming to help!"

"Wait, she's your friend? How? What? Why?"Questioned Vidia, experiencing more than a touch of the confusion that her netted friends had felt just a little while earlier.

"It's a long story, but I'll keep it short. Kim came from another world, not from the mainland, but a completely different world. And she came all the way here to help me get back my treasure box. See?" queried Tink, indicating the referenced item on the ground.

Vidia, more confused than ever, turned her head from her fairy friend to the giant. Looking at Kim directly in the eyes, she asked, in a less defiant and a calmer tone "you will let me go if I agree not to poke at you anymore?"

"Yes, that's the sitch!" confirmed Kim, now feeling a bit more confident that things were slowly getting back on track.

"The what?" Vidia, like Tinker Bell before her, was momentarily confused by the teen's abbreviation of the word "situation".

Tink quickly intervened to explain her newest friend's unusual lingo. However before she could fully accomplish that task, Kim interrupted her.

"Vidia, was there something on that pike you stuck me with? My face feels a little numb where you pricked me with your little weapon. Did you by any chance have a little poison or something on it? Kim concluded her inquiry, with only a touch of concern creeping into her voice. Without waiting for an answer, Kim reached out with her right hand to grab her MK and set it to self-scan mode, wondering if she might have to make a quick departure to return to her world for an antitoxin or an antidote to whatever had been on the tiny fairy's pike.

Before Vidia could answer, Tinker Bell jumped in. "No Kim, Vidia would never do something like that." But then, turning to Vidia, the tinker fairy herself questioned her friend, with some doubt creeping into her initially confident voice. "Vidia, you didn't, did you?"

Vidia, clearly disgusted by the accusation, vehemently denied any guilt in the matter.

"Of course not, Tink! What type of fairy do you think I am!"

"I'm sorry Vidia, but Kim says her face feels numb, and it didn't happen with the others attacking her!"

"Of course it didn't! I'm the only one that flew straight to the queen's residence to alert her to the danger of the giant monster, and I dipped my pike into a sleeping potion mixing bowl before flying back here!"

"Ohhh, a sleeping potion, ehh?" Said a slightly relieved Kim Possible, as the MK self-scan of her own body confirmed the presence of a mild sedative in her skin and circulatory system. "I wonder how long before I need to take a nap?"

Deciding not to take any further risks or make any further assumptions without getting a second opinion from home, Kim pressed another MK button and started talking to Wade.

"Wade, I need a quick 411 on how much I will be affected by a dose of sedative that I've just gotten from a very brave and smart fast-flying fairy."

Vidia was both pleased by the compliments that she was receiving regarding her actions and confused by the appearance of Wade's image on the MK. She became a little less confused as Tinker Bell tried to explain to her about the young boy from another world and the wonderful devices he had built for her new big friend.

"You should be okay, Kim." replied Wade, after performing a quick check of the MK readout on his own computer. "The dose you got should not do much more than just numb your face in the areas where you were poked. If my readings are correct, you need about one thousand more pin pricks before you would start getting even low drowsy. Two thousand would definitely get you into the Nap Range, and three thousand would ensure you would be sleeping tight all night. Four thousand, however, might be getting you into the possible overdose range-"

"Thanks, Wade," interrupted Kim. "That's enough on the 411 for now! Please and thank you!"

Turning off the visual on the MK, a teenager turned to her still captive "guest", and apologized.

"Sorry Vidia, I should've scanned first, and accused later… my bad. Forgive me?"

The fast-flying fairy, still somewhat confused by the recent turn of events, and by some of her captors unusual words, could only slowly nod and respond "Sure, okay, why not? Uhh, would you let me go if I give my pike to Tink to show you I'm friendly now?"

"No need for that, Vidia. I believe you understand that I am not a threat, and that you only attacked to defend your friends. I appreciate that; helping your fellow fairies is a very good thing." Kim said as she released the fast-flying fairy, who then quickly flew to and then hovered next to Tinker Bell, watching the giant cautiously.

Just then however, Tinker Bell suddenly had a delayed reaction to what Vidia had said about the sleeping potion.

"Wait, Vidia, you said you were at the Queen's residence earlier. What did you tell her and what did she say about Kim?"

"Oh, that!" responded Vidia, breaking into a big smile,"She told me to fly back as fast as I could and help the others keep the monster at bay, and that she would be bring the rest the Pixie Hollow fairies with her to-" Vidia stopped in midsentence with a look of horror on her face then looked at Kim directly changing her face to a look of sorrow and apology. "I…I…did not know what I know now…I'm sorry!"

"No Big, Vidia," started Kim, her calm voice belying some background concerns. Her mind was now rapidly considering several points and the potential ramifications from them.

Point 1: She had easily defeated the first wave with the mosquito net-her cheerleader moves, coupled with martial arts skills, really rocked big time in Pixie Hollow!

Point 2: She didn't know how many more were in the second wave with the Queen, and she only had the one net. Her cheerleader and martial arts moves had their limits, especially when she wanted to avoid injuring any of Pixie Hollow's well-intentioned defenders!

Point 3: How could she somehow convince the Queen and her forces that there had been a major misunderstanding before Kim was forced to either fight them or flee ahead of the second wave to avoid potential injuries to herself or her tiny adversaries?

Point 4 (and the most important one in this increasingly complicated sitch): How soon before the Queen and her second wave of fairies arrived at Kim's present location, and turned this currently academic reflection into something that could become very much more "So the Drama!"?

At this point, the only thing really certain was that nothing was really certain, beyond Kim's increasing conviction that if she did not quickly do something regarding fixing the current sitch, the Queen's actual arrival would make all points a moot point!

And THAT was a most ferociously unacceptable sitch! What could Kim do? And could she do it before it was too late?

Tic…Tic…Tic…Tic…Tic…

****To Be Continued****

(A/N: Well, it looks like I once again had to deal with the "curious case of the growing chapter", and had to decide where to close this installment out to avoid incurring Grande size territory again. I am, however now more confident that the next chapter will indeed close this sitch and help me begin Sitch Three (I am politely ignoring the renewed laughter from off stage; you know, sometimes that redheaded teen is more trouble-Uhh, I take that back, she is NEVER more trouble than she is worth [what was I thinking?]). Anyway, thanks again for your patience; I hope that chapter nine will prove satisfactory to all once I finally release it, even as things become even more complicated in Kim's Multiversing adventure. In the meantime, please R&R or send a PM on chapter 8 or others; feedback is always greatly appreciated!)

Kim Possible and her friends © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Tinker Bell and her friends in Pixie Hollow © Disney (Tinker Bell created by J. M. Barrie)

Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the others with them © DC Comics

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same. I also don't own the Disney Company in either this or other realities and do respect the rights of each as appropriate within their own reality (i.e. AU Disney companies in KP universes do not own her, but still own Mickey Mouse, etc.)


	9. Chapter 9

Story Summary: After almost losing her BFBF to a world that believes she's just an imaginary character, "It's Only a Cartoon"'s Kim Possible decides to confront her greatest challenge, and prepares to engage…..the Multiverse!

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 9:

Sitch 2 World: Visions Dark and Events Unexpected

(A/N: Kim Possible, visiting a second of six alternate realities, now has to deal with the fact that, thanks to the fast-flying fairy that she has just released, a second, larger wave of frenzied fairies, led by their Queen, is en route to battle her, believing her to be a lethal threat to Pixie Hollow and its inhabitants. Should she fight or flee? Or is there another option, another way to save this sitch? Please read on and find out, then R&R or PM to let me know what you think of this installment of my first KP story on FFN.)

Tic…Tic…Tic…Tic…Tic…

What to do?...What to do?...And how much time did she have before the question became moot?

All answers unknown. If she fought them with her utmost Kimness, there was no doubt she would win, but also little doubt that there would be many casualties among the fairies, possibly even fatalities. And THAT was ferociously unacceptable! Therefore, fighting was so NOT an option!

Flee the pending battle? Lift the MK, activate the doorway, confirm the way home, run through, and then shut the door behind. Easily done, but embarrassing, to say the least! She would be leaving her netting behind, forcing the trapped first wave to free themselves, possibly with Tinker Bell's assistance. And what of Tinker Bell herself? After Kim had escaped, would the tiny tinker fairy face the wrath of the Queen and the other fairies because of her association with the giant invader from elsewhere? Would they possibly exile her from Pixie Hollow? That was so not what Kim had intended when she decided to step in and help out with the lost treasure box. So "escape now" was also so NOT the option!

So neither "fight" nor "flight" were viable options. But what else was there for her to try?

Then it came to her, as a fragment of an anti-war chant from the previous century ran, unbidden, through her head ("…all we are saying….is give peace a chance…"). Risky? Perhaps, but this was a risk she was willing to take!

"I'm so sorry…I didn't know…I didn't realize…" Vidia, uncharacteristically upset with herself, continuing to apologize for her part in setting up what now appeared to be a no-win event.

"As I've already said, 'No Big', Vidia," started Kim, her calm voice now backed up by her just formulated plan of action.

"Okay, Vidia, you can see that we're all in a sticky Sitch. But don't worry about what happened in the past; the important thing now is to work with each other to keep things from getting even more serious in the near future. Would you like to help me fix this sitch?"

"What? Well, yes, of course…but how?" Asked Vidia, as Tinker Bell snapped her gaze away from her fellow fairy to the face of the red-haired teenager, a wry smile now adorning her own little face. The words just used by her newest friend convinced Tink that Kim was beginning to accept the designation of "situation tinker" that the tinker fairy had only recently tagged her with. But how would the teen heroine manage to accomplish that desired goal? Tinker Bell listened intently as Kim responded to Vidia's question.

"Vidia, would you mind flying as fast as you can to Queen Clarion and her forces to let them know that I'm not a danger to anyone in Pixie Hollow? Let her know that Tinker Bell and the first wave of defenders are safe, and I apologize deeply for frightening everybody here in Pixie Hollow. I'm very sorry for having caused so much fear and confusion among everyone, and I never intended causing any trouble with anyone. Let her know that I'm more than willing to leave before she gets here to avoid a fight with her and her brave forces, but that I am also quite willing to stay here and apologize to her and her people in person if she wishes me to do so. Please assure her that, in any case, I will obey her decision and orders without question, and that I deeply appreciate any consideration or kindness she may offer me at this serious time."

Kim paused for a moment, and then spoke two more sentences: "Can you do this for me, Vidia? Please and thank you!"

Vidia was silent for but a moment, and then answered. "Yes, I can, Kim!" She then turned to Tinker Bell and handed her sleeping potion coated weapon to the tinker fairy. "Hold this, please, Tink."

In response to the silent question posed in Tink's face as she took hold of the pike, Vidia explained her action: "I can fly far faster without it. Besides, I realize now have no need for it." Vidia added, giving a wan smile to Kim as she released her own hold on that weapon.

"And besides, you might need it if your new friend becomes unruly." she added, with a larger smile. Kim and Tinker Bell both chuckled , relieved that Vidia was adjusting well to the relaxation in tension now that a course of action had been decided upon, and she was about to begin implementing the very first part in solving this serious sitch.

Then, without another word, Vidia shot off towards Queen Clarion and the other approaching fairies.

"You're right, Kim, she's just like a fast-flying sun…." Tinkerbelle said, holding Vidia's pike, watching her fellow fairy quickly dwindling in size as she sped on her mission. The tinker fairy was amazed how fast she was going; if anything, she might have now been flying even faster than she did when she first saw Kim and flew away in panic.

"Who's heading for a whole galaxy of approaching suns only slightly slower than she is." replied Kim in a reserved voice, wondering if the Queen would pay any attention to Vidia's attempted explanations and entreaties. "I wonder how much time we have before that sun collides with the galaxy? And for that galaxy to collide with me?" The redheaded teenager added, realizing that it was now way past time that she talked with her mission control console support.

"Wade, how long before the lead and main forces arrive here at their current speed?" Kim knew that the answer would help determine her next actions, possibly dramatically so.

"About 5 minutes, 50 seconds, Kim, for the small lead group, and about 6 minutes even for the main force of three larger groups behind it."

Kim and Tinker Bell both relaxed a bit; Vidia should be able to reach the Queen and her forces long before they came within striking range of the red-haired giant. This Sitch might well be salvageable after all!

"And about how large are each of the group's compared to the one that almost got the better of me a few minutes ago?"

"Each of three large groups appears to be about the same size or slightly larger than your first wave group that you captured. The smaller group appears to be only about 20 or so in size."

"Can you give me a tactical image that Tinker Bell and I can see on the MK?"

"Sure, no prob, Kim; just a second, and…there! Kim, please press the Omni-scan option button."

She once again lifted the MK and pressed a button to activate a detailed Omni-scan of the local area.

As the Omni-scan activated, the MK screen lit up and indicated seven dots. As Kim studied the image, Tinkerbelle flew close enough to watch the picture on the display as well.

"Kim, what do those dots mean?" Asked Tinkerbelle, realizing that these images made full sense to her new friend, and not fully trusting whether that her own guesses about them were actually correct, and also realizing that at this stage, any error could have a great impact on this already severely serious Sitch.

"Well, the dot in the center of the screen, here, is us, mainly me, because of my size. Because the scan is centered on me, it doesn't move on this picture. The other non-moving dot that is close to me is your friends in my net. The one very small dot that is moving away from us is Vidia. She certainly appears to be making excellent progress towards her meeting with the other four dots that are moving towards us. I'm guessing because of the various sizes, it must be the three main second wave forces and the smaller scout or advance group in front of the main force."

"That might be Queen Clarion and her personal guard." said Tinker Bell in an almost emotionless voice. "Didn't Vidia say that she would personally lead the second wave of Pixie Hollow defenders?"

Then, without waiting for an answer, and turning from the screen to Kim's face, the tinker fairy spoke in a begging tone, "Please, Kim, you mustn't hurt her; she's our queen and we all love her; please don't-"

"Don't worry, Tink, I'm not going to hurt anybody, especially not your queen. I'll run like a scared little rabbit before I'll risk injuring or frightening any of your people further. I just hope that Queen Clarion doesn't decide to take out any of her irritation with me on you. After all, you did not invite me to come here to save your treasure box; I came here on my own to help out. But could she possibly blame you for my presence here, and possibly punish you for something you didn't do and had no control over?"

"Don't worry, Kim, I'm sure that the Queen will understand. I've always her found to be very wise, and very understanding. After all, she's had to deal with me a lot, and I'm not always the easiest sitch to fix!"

Tink's compassionate statement did serve to help Kim put aside several concerns of her own, for the time being, at least, and concentrate on the immediate issue at hand.

Pushing another button on the MK, Kim spoke again.

"Wade, can you give us a visual overhead on them using your Multiversal Viewer and streaming it to the MK?"

"Sure thing, Kim; I'm on it!"

Kim and Tinkerbelle saw the seven dots replaced by an image that appeared to be looking down upon them. Kim was very used to this point of view imagery, and did not look up, but Tinker Bell did, wondering how something could see them from above and yet be totally invisible to her own eyes. She marveled at yet another amazing ability of her new big friend and her slightly smaller new big friend before returning her gaze to the MK.

When the tinker fairy glanced back down at the image on the MK she saw the POV moving away from Kim and her in the apparent direction of the Queen's forces. The POV quickly arrived at a point directly over the combined fairy force after first catching up with and quickly passing Vidia.

"Wade's faster than Vidia! Exclaimed Tinker Bell. "He made it look like we passed over her so quickly that it was almost like she was standing still! Your Wade is certainly a very powerful tinker, even if he is too big to be a fairy!"

While Tink was complimenting Wade on his expertise, the computer genius had adjusted POV so that it seemed like Kim and Tinker Bell were now hovering over the main body by having the viewer tracking it at the same speed that it was moving towards Kim and Tinker Bell.

Wade then slowly lowered and slewed the POV slightly forward until seemed to be having directly above what appeared to be the Queen's guard group. He then moved it slightly ahead of the group and slowly lowered it even more so that the teenager and her tinker fairy friend were able to see the Queen's Group from the front, as if they were almost hovering right in front of her but flying backwards to avoid a collision. Tinker Bell and her large friend could clearly see the look of determination on the face of the Queen. Even her personal guards did not seem that determined, elements of fear clearly displayed on parts of the faces.

But Queen Clarion had no such fear in her face. Kim knew that was impossible for the queen to be without some fear within her, but she was clearly determined to make sure she displayed none of it to either her subjects or to her foe. Her kingdom had been reported to be under attack by an awesome adversary, and she had called her people to battle. And unlike some leaders of other worlds, she was literally leading them into battle instead of sitting back on a throne in giving orders to others.

"Kim, I've never seen Queen Clarion look like that before!" Exclaimed Tinker Bell, stunned by the expression that her queen displayed on her face. In fact, Kim, I've never seen any fairy with that exact expression on their face before.

"Well, Tinker Bell, I've seen one other fairy that had a look like that."

"Who, Kim? Where? When?"

"You, Tinker Bell, when you talked about saving your friends in the treasure box after it went over the Great Falls or going after someone as big as me despite the risks to yourself. You looked exactly like she does now. It looks like you and the Queen also have a lot in common, Tink; she cares for her subjects as much as you care for your friends."

"And since I'm here to check out ways of helping my friends while helping others, I guess all three of us have a lot in common in that regard. That's why it would be such a shame for me to either battle her or flee from her. I just hope that she will agree to let me stay here long enough to apologize to her and her court, and the other fairies."

"I hope so too, Kim."Agreed Tinker Bell, with a smile on her face. "How soon before Vidia gets there, and gives your message to the Queen?"

"Wade, a 411 on Vidia's ETA? Please and thank you."

"About another 75 seconds, Kim; she may be the fastest fairy in all of Pixie Hollow, but she's no FIash!"

"I agree, Wade, but she's a good stand in for him, at least from a fairy's point of view. Well, in any case, keep an eye and her and let me know when she gets there. Please and thank you again, Wade!"

"No prob, Kim!" Responded her friend, as he continued to track all the major moving objects in the area, determined not to repeat his mistake in which he did not realize that the first wave was not just a dust cloud until the cloud attacked Kim. He was relieved that Kim had not been badly injured by them, and happily surprised that none of the fairies she had captured had been reported injured by Tinker Bell. He had readjusted several parameters, and now could clearly confirm whether a cloud was that of dust or of fairies, but he was leery of being too confident this time around: he did not want to let Kim down a second time regarding her safety.

Then turning to Tinker Bell, Kim spoke again.

"In the meantime, Tink, let's get your other friends out of that net and help demonstrate my good intentions by releasing everyone before Vidia gets back. I'm sure she will be happy to know that nobody's trapped by the time she returns back here. And Tink?"

"Yes, Kim?"

"Please make sure that all of your friends are still unhurt in any way. I just hope that the netting has not pressed too hard on them during all this drama and my delay in freeing them. Please pass my deepest apologies on to them about having scared them. And that I deeply regret having had to net them to stop their attack on me. Please pass on my praise for their bravery in attacking something that was so much larger than they were. Tell them that I think that they are truly brave fairies and I respect them highly for their bravery. Okay Tink?"

"Sure Kim, no Big." Tinker Bell smiled briefly at that last word.

Kim was about to continue her conversation with Tinker Bell when Wade interrupted her with a status update regarding Vidia and the Queen's forces.

"Kim, all four groups of the second wave came to a complete stop as soon as Vidia reached the Queen's group about 10 seconds ago. Vidia seems to be talking to the Queen right now, and the Queen is responding in turn to Vidia. There seems to be some sort of interference on my audio pickup, Kim, so I cannot make out the individual words, but I think the Queen just gave Vidia some instructions. Vidia's nodding her head, and now she just flew away from the Queen. She appears to be heading back toward your location, at a truly incredible speed!"

"About how soon before she gets here, Wade?"

"Well, Kim, she should probably be arriving at your location in about 2 minutes, 50 seconds or less from now at her current rate of speed."

"Thanks, Wade, for the update. Oh, by the way, Wade, what are the Queen's forces doing now? Are they still stopped?"

"No, Kim, they resumed their flying towards you about 15 seconds after Vidia started heading back year."

"And, Wade, what is their ETA here?" Kim inquired, with great interest.

"Well, Kim, based on their current rate of flight, I estimate the Queen should get there about 10 minutes 20 seconds, with the rest of her groups about 15 seconds later."

"Really, Wade, over 10 minutes before they get here? Wow, they've really slowed down their pace!"

"Yes, they are all moving forward at an extremely reduced speed. It seems that the Queen has decided that whichever answer she gave to Vidia, she's no longer on a rescue or revenge mission, and doesn't see the need to press her people into flying at their own sustainable top speed."

"Thanks, Wade, for the spankin' update!" Kim responded in a relaxed but joyful tone, feeling a bit better about continuing developments in the current Sitch; it looked like that a positive resolution to the unintended conflict in Pixie Hollow might well be achievable after all!

Kim then turned back to Tinker Bell, to resume the conversation interrupted by Wade.

"Now, Tink, where were we? Oh yes I remember now. We were talking about releasing your friends from the netting without further ado. And I had just told you to make sure you pass on my message respecting their bravery…"

Kim paused for another moment to make sure that she had collected all her thoughts. She then continued with her next instruction.

"Oh, and Tink, ask them not to fly up and away towards the Queen's forces until I've moved way back and out the way of any fairy flight. It's not that I'm afraid of a sneak attack from your friends, Tink, but I'm concerned that a flurry of fairy wings at the wrong time might cause an involuntary giant sneeze and/or inhalation reflex, and I might hurt your friends or worst and I"—

"And you're on a strict fairy-free diet." Finished Tinker Bell, smiling after flying up to Kim's nose and placing her hands on both sides like she had done earlier. Closing her own eyes for a moment to think, she then spoke again to her newest friend. "Kim, I think I have an idea that might help; tell me what you think of it. Please and thank you!"

"Okay, Tink, you're on!" Encouraged Kim, also smiling at the tinker fairy's quick adoption of some of Kim's favorite phrases. Tinker Bell responded quickly to the teenager's positive answer, and started to explain her plan.

"Well, first, I quickly go to the netting and confirm that they're still uninjured and give them your messages, including the "no-fly until you back away a few giant steps" warning. When they agree, I'll wave you over with Vidia's pike and have you open the closed netting like a giant table cloth. When you're done, I'll then wave you away with the pike again. When you're far enough away, I'll give them the go ahead to fly to the Queen, motioning to them with Vidia's pike." Tinker Bell paused for a moment, and then continued.

"Kim, I know it may sound silly, but I think my friends and their friends will be less likely to panic about or during their release if they even half believe that I'm somehow controlling you with Vidia's pike. I realize it's almost as ridiculous as when Vidia joked about me using it to keep you from becoming unruly, but I really think"—

"-It's a perfect plan!" interrupted Kim, and then quickly added a question. "Are you sure you're not a situation tinker in disguise as well as a regular tinker fairy?" Kim smiled, but the little fairy was far too close to see her facial expression.

Nevertheless, Tinker Bell smiled back. "What can I say Kim, I guess some of you has rubbed off on me." she said taking her right hand off Kim's nose and rubbing her right forearm on the tip of Kim's nose instead.

"OK, Tink, let's do it." Kim said calmly and quietly.

At that agreement, Tinker Bell flew away from Kim, and landed near the netting. After about 30 seconds, she waved to Kim with Vidia's pike.

At Tinker Bell's signal, the teenager carefully moved forward, and grabbed the loose end of the mosquito netting. She then gently and carefully opened it up and repositioned the loose edges back down on the ground in such a way that it now indeed looked more like a picnic table cloth.

Tinker Bell again motioned with Vidia's pike, and Kim, smiling, then stepped backwards, away from netting, the treasure box, and from Tinker Bell. Kim then sat down on the ground to await Vidia's return.

15 seconds after Kim sat down, most of the formerly trapped fairies flew up and away from Kim, and then flew over the treasure box, heading quickly towards the Queen's approaching forces. A few, however stayed near the net and Tinker Bell, and Kim realized that these were her closest friends as she saw them gently poking her and each other. Kim smiled again as she realized how much like humans fairies were, for it reminded her of the many times she and Ron and others had congratulated each other on a job well done or to celebrate a victory at the end of a Middleton game or the foiling of yet another Dr. Drakken "take over the world" scheme.

Kim's reminiscence was interrupted by Wade speaking on the communicator.

"Kim, Vidia should be arriving at your location in under 20 seconds."

"That's great, Wade; thanks for the update!"

"Oops, Kim, it looks like I spoke too soon!"

"How so, Wade?"

"Well, Vidia just encountered the first wave group you released, and she briefly stopped to chat with them for few seconds before resuming her flight towards us. She's now about 15 seconds away."

"Oh, and here come Tink and her friends now!" Kim added, as the little tinker fairy, accompanied by several others, approached within an arm's length of the relaxing teenager. And just as they paused in their own forward motions towards Kim, the fast-flying fairy made her own appearance at Kim's location, and hovered in front of Kim, with her friends, at eye level.

"Kim, the Queen would like you to wait for her to arrive here so that she could speak with you." Vidia said with a smile, happy that she was able to bring good news back, especially after fearing that she had ruined things with her misunderstanding of Kim's intentions earlier.

"That's great! Very well, Vidia, please inform the Queen that I will wait for her arrival and that I will not move from this place until she tells me that I may leave. And this time, Vidia, you don't have to make it another roundtrip, ahead of the Queen. If you wish, you can just come back with her, your other friends who were in the netting, and the remainder of the Queen's forces."

"Thank you, Kim; I'll do that, unless the Queen commands otherwise." Vidia responded, smiling.

Then, turning to Tinker Bell, she reminded her to be ready with Vidia's loaned pike to keep Kim from becoming unruly in the interim, but with an expression displayed on her face assuring the tinker fairy and her other friends that she understood both the unlikelihood of Kim becoming unruly and the even greater unlikelihood of Tinker Bell being able to really control Kim with the pike if she ever did get out of hand. All the fairies chuckled at that, and Kim herself smiled broadly, greatly relieved that all the fairies were moving past the original fear and terror they had felt at their first encounter with the teen heroine.

"Though I have to admit, Tink," added Vidia, "you did a great job of making believe that you could when you and Kim released the captured fairies from Kim's big net. More than a few of them admitted to total confusion about how you had Kim under your control, but they did say that their panic about a possible 'last minute snack' danger was greatly reduced by the thought that you actually did have things under control! By the way, Kim, that was a great idea you had for you and Tink to do that!"

"Well, actually, Vidia, Tinker Bell was the one who had the idea to help reduce the tension and panic that we both felt was still present in some of those in the netting. I'm just glad that she and I were able to do it well enough to accomplish our goal of reducing tension and fear in the others."

"But it was your original instructions to me that gave me the idea in the first place, Vidia" admitted Tinker Bell. "I'm just glad it worked out as well as it did; Kim truly played her role to a T, and even I actually believed I was controlling her! But it was so not the reality, right, Kim?"

"While actually, it was the reality, Tink. True, it wasn't the power of the pike that controlled me as much as it was our new friendship between the two of us and my desire to do no more harm than I had already done by accident, but that makes it no less real."

As Kim paused after her response, she heard the ticking of the imaginary clock within her mind.

"Well, Vidia, you better get going, or the Queen will be here before you can get my answer to her. And I don't want to have any more misunderstandings occur during my visit here to Pixie Hollow."

"Right, Kim, see you soon!" Vidia agreed, and she then sped off towards the Queen and the other approaching fairies. Tinker Bell and her fellow fairy friends once again witnessed the fastest fairy in Pixie Hollow living up to her reputation as she rapidly dwindled in size.

As Vidia disappeared in the distance, Kim pondered the recent improvement in the status of the current Sitch. Her concerns about whether the Queen would listen to Vidia and change her plans regarding Kim were now in the past, as were her worries about the need for a quick departure from Pixie Hollow via the MK, or for her to finish the Sitch up in an unconventional manner. And she no longer worried that Tinker Bell, the subject of Kim's original "helping out" effort, would somehow be blamed or otherwise held accountable for all the drama that the teenager had unwitting caused.

After all, coupled with her failure with Lex Luthor in her first trip and her "capture" by the Flash as she tried to depart from that world, Kim had earlier found herself briefly pondering whether she might indeed need to reconsider whether to continue with the next sitch as originally planned.

However, even though now the current Sitch now looked a whole lot better than it had only a short while before, and she was again resolved to see the six Sitch mission through to a successful conclusion, she still entertained some nagging concerns.

She had, of course, recognized and accepted the challenges posed by each of the worlds that she had included on her multiverse tour, but she now found herself wondering whether something more was going on beyond the apparently straightforward sitches that she had intended to fix. She knew and accepted that there were risks in her choice to engage the Multiverse to prove that she would be able to aid her boyfriend or others if the need ever arose, but she only now found herself considering the possibility that the Multiverse itself might somehow react to her engagement as if it was a living entity.

Was there any truth in that thought? In any case, what, if anything, was she missing? That thought triggered a series of possibly unrelated thoughts, ideas, speculations, and conclusions, starting with something not missing, but mis-pressed.

The incorrect key press that a nervous salesman made that called her and not Team Impossible to rescue the wealthy cuddlebuddy collector from a dangerous alarm system? Looking back, Kim realized that that "wrong number" had caused her to move from the world of babysitting lawn mowing leaf freaking dog walking and cat in tree saving to one that contained a whole different set of sitches.

What would have happened if he had hit "T" instead of "K"? Would she have ever expanded into saving the world? Ever meet Shego or the PDVI, ever realized that Ron was more than her best friend? Would Nevada still be there? Or be the victim of a really serious PDVI sitch if Team Possible had never existed?

Was her own pro-active response to the possibility of a third PDVI incident a similar "stroke of a key" press that generated an alternative reality from one that otherwise would have been? Was there another AU where another Kim identical to her in every other way did not fear quite as much for Ron as she had, and had not brought the PDVI to Wade 7 days after the rescue of Ron from Wal-Mart World? Was that Kim playing zombie games or even now knoshing on nacos, completely unaware of the plights of Superman and Supergirl and Tinker Bell?

Kim was suddenly hit by an extremely dark vision. Although indeed related to her train of thought, it impacted her as if it had come out of the blue. In some important ways, it was an even greater impact than she had felt when she had feared losing Ron forever in that other strange reality.

She found herself viewing an extremely bizarre scene. She and Ron were laying a wreath at the border of Nevada, with her family and his family witnessing their actions. The two then hugged each other, not as boyfriend girlfriend, but only as best friends. And Kim would never have to worry about losing Ron to video games with Felix as they both vanquished vampires and mashed mummies, for Felix had been with his mother in Las Vegas when a terrible PDVI accident had sucked the entire state of Nevada into a vortex. Felix was gone forever, as were all the people in that state. It was all such a terrible tragedy! Oh, if only someone had been there to save the day! Why wasn't someone there to save the day?

All because a key had not been pressed years earlier?

The shock of this alternate reality was made more intense by the fact that it seemed so real, so un-dreamlike. Even though the Multiversal Kim knew better, she still briefly found herself experiencing the emotions and thoughts of wreath-laying Kim as if she herself was part of that true reality, and that that was the only true reality, with no thoughts of the multiverse or the thoughts she had had during her preparation for the six Sitch mission.

Her thoughts about her best friend Ron and his sorrow over lost of his video game partner. Her own sorrow over the loss of that young flying wheelchair bound boy who she had met and embarrassed herself over well before the disappearance of Nevada from the world. And her frustration over being unable to find a true boyfriend she could trust and adore….

Kim found herself spinning from the impact of the shocking scene, and found herself mentally shouting at the clueless teenager "he's right beside you! Don't you realize that Ron is for you! He always has your back; he's always there for you when you need him!"

The other Kimberly Anne Possible, of course, heard none of those mental screams from her AU other self, and, taking her best friend by his left hand, starting walking him back to rejoin their families. They would then stop off at a Bueno Nacho or Cow N Chow or possibly a J.P. Bearymore's Pizza Party-Torium for something to eat before heading back to Middleton. Even in the aftermath of tragedies, life would go on, with cheer-leading, baby-sitting, cat sitting and the like. And why not? She was after all, just another average girl, no one special; it wasn't as if she could have done anything about those sad sitches that the FBI or Global Justice had failed to save or solve around her world...

Somehow that thought aided Kim in recovering her balance regarding this uninvited dark vision, reminding her that she had to keep her own head in this game and avoid distractions whenever possible to ensure that she was not diverted from her intended path of success on her current multi-world mission. She mentally shook her head as she also dismissed, at least for the current moment, any further consideration of the third person nightmare she had experienced just before she committed herself to seeing the Director of Global Justice about borrowing the PDVI. Someday she might share it with someone else, or try to examine it further in light of the discussions she had had with Wade about the nature of the Multiverse and possible linkages between alternate realities and fan fiction writers who wrote about them. For example, was that third person nightmare actually just a nightmare, or was it something even far more horrible?

"Someday, maybe, but not today."Kim mentally told herself, redirecting her attention back to the immediate sitch and her working through it. Kim briefly and slowly shook her head back and forth as she considered some of the implications of that idea and the complications that would result if either the "nightmare" wasn't or if this new idea of a "living" Multiverse was found to have any merit, but reaffirmed with herself that now was not the time to address either concern if she was to succeed in her current mission.

Tinker Bell, seeing her friend's head movement and serious expression on her face, misinterpreted the situation (at least partially), and sought to reassure the concerned teenager.

Don't worry, Kim, I'm sure your meeting with Queen Clarion will go well. I've always her found to be very kind, and very gracious. After all, she's managed to deal with me, Vidia, other fairies, and many other creatures who occasionally can have real attitudes; you and her will have no difficulties talking with each other when she gets here!"

"I'm sure you're right, Tinker Bell." agreed Kim. Then turning to the MK, she checked in with her home world contact.

"Update arrival time, Wade? Please and thank you!"

"4 minutes, 15 seconds for the queen and 4 minutes, 25 seconds for the main group. By the way, the first wave has merged with the second wave, and each of the large groups behind the Queen's Group is about a third larger than they were before. It also looks like a few of them have joined the forward group, I read about 40 fairies are with the queen now. And, Kim, the Queen appears to have a much more relaxed expression on her face now; it looks like she's looking forward to meeting with you."

"Got it, Wade, thanks again for the 411 update!" Kim replied in a moderately happy tone, very relieved that her just concluded introspection had not caused her to "zone out" as long as she feared she might have. Kim then returned her attention to Tinker Bell and her friends.

"Well, Tink, it looks like we'll find out about me and the Queen talking in the not too distant future, in any case. In the meantime, I apologize for ignoring you and your companions while I was pondering some other issues beyond the current Sitch. Hopefully, my quiet time has at least given your friends a chance to get a little more used to me."

"Yes, Kim, we've all calmed down a lot since you first showed up, and they're all a little less nervous than when you opened the netting to release them all."

Even so, Tink's friends were still hovering behind her by more than a few fairy heights, and were still a bit fearful of Tink's newest friend. When Tink had noticed that they had stopped one arm's length away from Kim, she shook her head back and forth sadly, and then continued forward to be within less than one quarter of that distance from her large friend.

"Kim, please let me introduce some of my friends. They were with me when you first arrived, and I am afraid they are still a little leery of getting too close. Please forgive them, they really are good friends, they just haven't known you as long as I have."

"No prob, Tink, I fully understand." Kim reassured the fairy. "Our first meeting, after all, was somewhat less than spectacular, and I deeply apologize for not having handled it better. So, moving forward, please me know the names of your friends who are at least brave enough to get to within one of arm's length of me while everyone else seems to have moved a little bit further away." Kim smiled as she indicated, with an nod of her head, the direction in which the rest of the first wave of the pixie defense forces had flown after their release from the net.

Rosetta asked Iridessa quietly why the giant hadn't simply pointed towards the approaching forces. Iridessa had answered, equally quietly, that she had probably not wanted to scare any of the more nervous fairies by moving her hands. Rosetta blushed, and then admitted that all of Tink's friends, including her, were probably acting very silly. Iridessa had agreed with her just as Tinker Bell started her introductions of her friends after having introduced Kim, by her full name, to them.

"And Kim, this is Iridessa. She's"—

"—I'm a light fairy. And I am very pleased to meet you, Kim!" completed Iridessa, who had quickly flown forward to join Tinker Bell before she could finish the introduction. "And I want to apologize personally for acting so silly a little while ago by not approaching with Tink before she started her introductions. I also want to thank you for your tolerance of us and our fears, and I thank you deeply for helping Tinker Bell get her treasure box back!"

"I'm pleased to meet you, too, Iridessa. And with your permission to move my right hand, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine that Tink thought you might like to meet. Is that okay with you, too, Tink?"

"Sure, Kim." Quickly answered Tinker Bell, who then turned to her nearby friend. "But, Iridessa, please remember that he's not trapped in the little box you're about to see him in, it's just a picture from the real world that he lives in with Kim."

"Okay." responded Iridessa, both interested and a little confused. "You have my permission to move your hand to introduce me to a friend of yours."

Kim smiled and slowly moved her right hand to the MK, pressed the button that reconnected it to Wade's computer room.

"And Iridessa, may I introduce you to my friend, Wade. He's helped me a lot in my adventures on my own world, and in making it possible to visit you here."

As Tink had earlier expected, her friend was fascinated with Kim's young friend.

"Ohh, it's very nice to meet you, Wade!" exclaimed the light fairy, and she and the young computer genius continued their conversation as Tinker Bell started to introduce Rosetta to the giant teenager.

As with her attempted introduction of Iridessa, Tinker Bell got no further than Rosetta's name before the plant fairy flew next to her and completed the introduction.

As Rosetta completed her own apologies and expressions of good will to the redheaded girl, the remainder of Tinker Bell's group, apparently overcoming their remaining fears, had moved forward and joined up with the tinker fairy.

Tinker Bell then proceeded to introduce her other friends to Kim, and had just gotten to finish her introduction of Terence when Vidia flew up and interrupted the introductions.

Following her apologies for the interruption, Vidia explained that the Queen had decided that she wished to have Iridessa and Vidia as her honor guard in place of her usual palace guards, since this was a compromise between the Queen's own desire to have no guards with her when she approached Kim and the palace guards insistence that they should accompany her for their swords drawn and ready for battle.

"So, Tink, I'll need my pike back again." Concluded Vidia. Then, as Tinker Bell handed back the pike, Iridessa said her farewells to Wade and flew up from the MK to join Vidia.

"Thank you, Kim, for letting me to chat with your friend, I really enjoyed it!"

Wade's voice rose up from the Kimmunicator in response: "To the contrary, Iridessa, the pleasure was all mine!" Kim realized, with a slight start, that Wade's voice had a different tone to it than it had ever had before. And she quickly realized why: her young friend had just had a friendly non-business conversation with a girl for probably the very first time. True, that girl was a fairy, and Kim realized she could not begin to comprehend the age difference between a girl fairy and a preteen human in the social context they were both in, but she was certain that her young friend had just taken his first step towards someday having a real girlfriend of his own. Of course, that would be the drama of some future day, and there were some more immediate concerns for both to address in the current sitch.

"Okay, Vidia, Iridessa," Started Kim. "Please go to the Queen and let her know that I'll keep my hands on my knees and not move them unless she does give me permission to do so. I know it's not much, but I hope this will reassure her guards at least a little bit. I do so want to end this sitch on a positive note."

"Right, Kim." Responded Vidia, and she and Iridessa headed off to the Queen, who was now hovering, stationary, with her forces, under 20 feet away.

Moments after Vidia and Iridessa reached the Queen, the three of them left the forward group, and approached Kim.

As the three of them reached Tinker Bell and her group, Tink and her friends backed away to leave the space open for the Queen and her honor guard and avoid any accidental collisions.

Kim imagined the concerns of the guards and the other fairies in the four groups behind the Queen; she was now within easy capture range of the giant who they feared was not as friendly as the Queen had hoped. If the Queen was wrong, none of her other subjects could reach her in time to save her.

"Dear Gentle Giantess," started Queen Clarion, "It is my great pleasure to officially welcome you to Pixie Hollow. I feel it is safe to say that we both deeply regret any confusion and misunderstanding that has arisen between us during your attempt to peacefully visit us and offer aid to one of our subjects, namely one Tinker Bell. We sincerely hope that any injuries suffered here at our hands were minor, and that you will recover quickly from same. I'm happy to report that none of our people suffered any but the most trivial of injuries in their own encounters with you, and I thank you deeply for your gentleness with us as you defended yourself against our mistaken attacks."

The Queen paused for a moment, and then asked Kim a question.

"So, good visitor, to you have anything to say in response?"

"Yes, Good Queen Clarion. I, Kimberly Anne Possible, sincerely and deeply regret all the fear and other concerns that I unintentionally caused during my visit to your world. I was only here to help and not to hurt, and I'm very sorry that we got off to a bad start. Because of the nature of my mission in my agreements with my friend and my mother back in my world, I do not expect to return here unless someone from my world is lost here. However, if I should need to return, I hope it'll be in the same spirit of peace we now have between us."

"I am sure it will be, Ms. Possible. I can see in your eyes that your regret about this misunderstanding is genuine, and that you bear no ill will to me or my people. And your actions also reassure me that you are no cause for concern, despite my well meaning guards' fears to the contrary."

Queen Clarion paused for a moment, and then continued.

"Now, I realize that you have completed your actions in our world in assisting Tinker Bell by returning the treasure box to her, and that you are now ready to return to your home world. I also understand, however, that you're also engaged in a larger mission involving other worlds. I do not wish to delay you too much in continuing your efforts to accomplish that larger mission, but could I prevail upon you to briefly describe this larger mission to satisfy our curiosity?

"Of course, Queen Clarion, I'll be more than happy to give you the top level summary right now before I go, and Tinker Bell can fill you in on the details later on, if you so desire.

"That will be quite satisfactory, Ms. Possible, and I look forward to discussing this matter further with Tinker Bell after you leave."

Kim then proceeded to tell the Queen about the PDVI incidents, the near loss of her boyfriend, and her efforts to take control of the situation before things became more critical. Queen Clarion did not interrupt Kim at all for any explanations or additional details, but would occasionally look at Tinker Bell to confirm that the tinker fairy would be able to provide details regarding the matter that Kim was summarizing. Tinker Bell would nod her head to agree that she would be able to talk to the Queen more about that particular item of interest at a later time.

When Kim had concluded her summarized story, the Queen had only two things to say in response.

"Ms. Possible, you certainly have set up quite a challenge for yourself. May you be successful in all your endeavors, and prove yourself ready to deal with those challenges that may arise after your mission is completed."

Kim paused for a moment, and then asked the Queen a final question in turn.

"And, on that note, do I have your permission to now return to my own world, leaving you and your people in peace?"

"You do indeed have my permission, young human, please go and be well."

"Thank you, Good Queen, for your kindness and good wishes. And now, if you do not greatly mind, may you and your honor guard, along with Tinker Bell and her group, please move back towards your other subjects so that I may slowly get up to retrieve my netting and prepare to actually depart, hopefully all without causing too much concern among your other loyal subjects?"

"Of course, Ms. Possible. We shall all move back to give you room to maneuver, but would I like to see your doorway in operation if you do not object to my request. I've never seen a doorway to another world, and I must admit that my curiosity has been piqued regarding its appearance.

"No objection at all, Queen Clarion. I do, however, apologize in advance if the appearance of the door is unpleasant to you or the other fairies in any way. In the first world I visited, special beings saw colors in the door and did not find it painful, while we humans saw it only as a pale white, almost mist like rectangle slightly wider and taller than myself. I do not know how you and your fellow fairies will perceive it, but I do not wish you or them any discomfort as I depart Pixie Hollow and this world.

"I understand, and I thank you for your warning. Iridessa, please go and warn my guards about this and have them warn all our subjects about this possibility, so that they will know to avert their eyes should they began feeling any discomfort."

"Yes, my Queen!" Iridessa responded, and flew quickly to the guards to pass on the queen's message, then flew back to Queen Clarion.

"Your senior guard will raise his sword once he receives confirmation that all have been warned."

Less than 20 seconds after Iridessa's statement, the senior guard raised his sword, signaling his queen.

"We're prepared, Ms. Possible; you may begin gathering your netting and open your doorway."

"Thank you, Queen Clarion." The teenager responded.

As the Queen, her honor guard, Tinker Bell, and her friends, slowly backed away, Kim slowly got up, and then slowly walked to the now empty netting. She quickly folded it up, returned it to her backpack side pocket from which she had initially extracted it during the pixie attack, and then placed three extra energy bars on Tink's treasure box after removing the wrappers.

She then slowly turned back around and walked slowly back towards the Queen's honor guard and Tink's group, leaving the majority of the fairies behind her and the treasure box.

When she drew up alongside the Queen, Kim stopped and then raised the MK and pressed the button.

Kim saw the pale white rectangle appear about 15 feet away from her and Queen Clarion.

As Kim reconfirmed that she was receiving a landing lights confirmation from the MK indicating that she was safe to return, she heard the Queen and the other fairies near her report that they saw the door as rainbow colored, and Iridessa even compared it favorably to her own work with light.

"It is indeed quite beautiful, Kim." commented the Queen. "It is most unfortunate that your own eyes cannot see the beauty your friend has created."

"Well, Queen Clarion, I guess that's just one more thing that you and your fellow fairies have in common with Superman and Supergirl, but I am glad you're enjoying the view."

Then, glancing at the runway lights one more time, Kim said her final farewell to Queen Clarion and her newest friends.

Without further delay, Kim headed towards the doorway. On the next to last step, she briefly delayed moving forward just long enough to half-turn and wave to Tink, Queen Clarion, and the other fairies before she stepped through the doorway and left Pixie Hollow forever.

The door of light quickly faded, and Pixie Hollow began to return to normal. Of course, there was that matter of the "victory" celebration, as the fairies began to share pieces of the energy bars that Kim left behind as a peace offering to all the fairies in Pixie Hollow. Some, of course, though no longer frightened, said they preferred to have nothing more to do with the strange visitor or her gifts and began drifting off and returning to their normal activities.

As Queen Clarion joined Tinker Bell at one of the energy bars and was offered a piece by the tiny tinker fairy, a single small tear ran down her royal right cheek.

Tinker Bell noticed Queen Clarion's fairly somber expression and the single tear, and once again misinterpreted what both meant.

"I'm going to miss her too, Queen Clarion, but we both know she has to go and fix those serious sitches."

Queen Clarion was relieved that the tiny tinker fairy had misunderstood the reason for the tear and her almost unreadable expression, and that the gentle fairy would never realize the true reason behind it.

It was, of course, just as well. Poor Tinker Bell would never have to know that her good and glorious queen had just effectively passed a death sentence on her newest friend as she'd exited from Pixie Hollow and returned to her own world. And she'd done it without saying a single word.

Queen Clarion was extremely tormented by what she had just done. As Kim had walked the last step toward the doorway and briefly turned her head and upper torso to wave farewell to her and her subjects, Queen Clarion had almost screamed "Stop!" as she experienced the impact of a truly terrifying vision of the future that had shaken her to her core as it flashed into her mind, . She clearly saw the then neatly costumed girl in a now severely disheveled state. Her then beautiful clean face now streaked with sweat and smudged with dirt. Her then joyful face now filled with almost unimaginable terror and disgust. She was clearly alone, without any back up support or allies by her side. There was no one to help her, no one to relieve her distress, no one to answer her SOS. She faced an unimaginably evil adversary who was about to claim victory and end both the battle and her own life. An evil so great that it sickened the Queen even as she tried and failed to identify the person or thing that hosted it.

That was the teenager's future once she stepped through the doorway to her homeworld. The Queen could stop that future with one word.

But the Queen then held back that one word, because she was savagely assaulted by a second flash vision of the future that would be if she uttered that word and the girl did not go home through the doorway. A vision that was far more horrific and terrifying and dark than the first horrendous image.

Pixie Hollow in ruins. The Queen and all her subjects dead, horribly mangled. All animals dead, including all the insects. All the plants, including the trees, ripped up by their roots, smashed, shredded, destroyed. Even the Great Falls were no more. Nearly total destruction of everything that had been once the most beautiful place in the world. Nothing was left intact, nothing survived.

That alone sickened the Queen to her very core, nearly causing her to faint at the mere image. But there was more; the devastation was not limited to Pixie Hollow.

She saw the mainland, and its devastation was somehow even greater than her own Pixie Hollow. All the plants and animals were dead, crushed, mangled, ripped to shreds. And it did not stop there. The children, boys and girls of all ages, also had not been spared. It was sometimes hard to tell whether they had been boys or girls before their end, and in some ways, Queen Clarion was glad she did not know.

And of course it did not stop there. Obviously, the children's mothers had tried and failed to save their own little ones from the horror that had come upon them. And those non-mothers that had tried to help the mothers had also paid the price of failure of opposing "that-which-cannot-be-stopped".

Perhaps, in its own way, the most horrifying aspect of it was not found in the brutal deaths of the unarmed women and children, but in the equally brutal deaths of the unarmed and armed men who had also tried and failed to stop the adversary that had brought nothing but death and horror with terror.

Knives and axes. Guns and machine guns. Cannons and super cannons. Weapons so horrific that even the consideration of their smashed images nearly tore Queen Clarion apart. Before this vision, she would've thought ill of the men who would have used these weapons in their own world, but now she felt only pity, as they used their weapons not against each other, but against their common foe, and paid the price of opposition. They were all dead, and all their weapons, from knives to super cannons and beyond, were mangled, crushed, shredded, destroyed. Nothing, absolutely nothing, had survived the Foe that they had faced off against, in a final, fatal unity.

This also applied to all the buildings and structures that man and woman had built over the ages. Bridges, towers, roadways; all had been wrecked, destroyed, pulverized. Again, nothing had survived; the entire world was a graveyard, and an endless field of rubble.

This Earth was dead, totally and absolutely dead.

This was the future if the teenage girl did not walk through the doorway to her home world.

The seed of the plant that now grew towards one of these two futures had already been planted in the fertile ground of the past, and the Queen could not stop its growth at this point by pulling it out by the roots. She could only determine in which of two directions it would now grow.

And so Queen Clarion said nothing, and the girl returned home without even a word of warning.

She'd saved her whole world, including Pixie Hollow, the vision of worldwide devastation fading as a bad dream fades in the morning light.

And the only thing she had had to do was to sacrifice one teenage girl, with red hair and green eyes, by simply not saying the word. A beautiful friendly girl whose only crime had been to help people who were in trouble. The same girl who had just helped one of her subjects get back a valuable item, which would in turn allow the subject to help her other subjects. And the Queen had repaid that girl for that good deed by letting her go to that deadly future without even warning her of the dangers that she would be facing.

There were many days that the Queen enjoyed being queen, serving her subjects and giving them guidance, protecting them from their own mistakes and confronting other challenges from others. She often had to make hard decisions in her role as queen, but she knew it was necessary for the good of her people.

There were many days that the Queen enjoyed being queen. This was not one of them, and she feared it would be a long time before she could sleep throughout the entire night without waking suddenly in fear and terror, wishing there had been a third way to save both the girl and the Queen's World.

Tinker Bell then offered some of Kim's energy bar to the queen. And as the Queen enjoyed the good taste of the teenage girl's peace offering to the Queen and her subjects, her spirits dropped even lower than they had been. If only somehow she could send help to that time and place where that terrified girl was all alone with no help no one to answer her own SOS. But the teenage girl had now moved beyond the Queen's reach. Unless…

She could not save or aid Kim Possible herself, but possibly someone else or something else could. It might indeed only a legend or a belief, but the Queen knew that if she did not least at try to help the teenage girl in some manner like this, she would never be able to find a good night's rest ever again.

He/She/It was called by many names. Queen Clarion's name for it was the ThoughtHearer. It was said to be able to hear all thoughts of all thinking creatures no matter where they were. However, it was believed that it would take special note of those thoughts, wishes, and hopes that were addressed to it specifically. It was believed to rarely, if ever, respond to those thoughts with ones of its own (after all, it was called ThoughtHearer, not ThoughtSpeaker), and most often responded, if it did all, with actions, or events, that would at times address those thoughts, wishes, and hopes.

Queen Clarion now did the one thing she could do when all other options were now off the table and no other activities were possible. Queen Clarion sent her thoughts, wishes, and hopes outward, asking the ThoughtHearer to somehow intervene and spare Kim that dark future she had just envisioned. That somehow, in some way, that someone or something would aid her in her time of deepest distress, when she was in dire trouble and sent out a final SOS. That somehow, when things looked the darkest, and it seemed that there was no one to help her, that help would indeed come, from a most unexpected and unlikely source, and that someone or something would help the girl who had helped so many others.

The Queen would never know whether her thoughts, hopes, and wishes would indeed be answered by the ThoughtHearer. She would never truly know if that young girl would receive help at the time she most needed it.

As she savored the delicious taste of the energy bar, she had one more thing she could do before she let the red haired teenager go from her thoughts. One last single word that in some ways summarized the message she had already sent to the ThoughtHearer for the sake of the girl known as Kimberly Anne Possible. For the briefest of moments, Queen Clarion put everything she had and everything she was into that one word: "PLEASE!"

"Queen Clarion, isn't this really tasty? Wasn't it nice of Kim to leave us something nice to eat to remember her by?" Asked Tinker Bell, once again misinterpreting the intense expression of Queen Clarion with her eyes closed for the briefest moment to send out that last word.

"Yes, Tinker Bell, it was indeed very nice of Kim to leave us something to remember her by."

As Kim stepped out of the doorway of light and reentered Wade's computer room, totally unaware of the Queen's frightful vision, and in good spirits, she quipped "Hello, honey, I'm home!"

"Very funny, Kim; I'm just glad you got out of there without any more drama happening." Wade responded, also totally unaware of the Queen's facial expression change as Kim stepped through the doorway since he'd been concentrating on her and nothing else during the very important transition phase. After the dust cloud incident, he was being very careful to avoid any more misunderstandings, especially where Kim was concerned. It had not really occurred to him if there might be some importance to looking into the rearview mirror from time to time.

"I know Wade, it seems like my mother was right, and that big surprises do come in small packages sometimes. Speaking of which, I better give you-know-who a call without any further delay."

Pressing the auto-dial button, Kim was soon connected with her mother, and quickly updated her regarding her adventures with the fairies of Pixie Hollow. Her mother was not too concerned about the minor face wounding situation, and after Kim sent her information from MK regarding blood loss and lack of infection, she quickly gave her okay for Sitch Three. At the end of the conversation with her mother, Kim hung up the phone, and then left the room to "powder her nose" and prepare for Sitch Three.

As Kim departed his room, Wade quickly started his setup for Sitch Three, determined to be fully ready to send Kim off on her third mission as soon as she returned. And for three minutes, everything was going well, and Wade was humming a happy little tune.

And then the impossible happened. Something that had never happened before, not in all the weeks since Wade had started working on the PDVI to MK development activity.

It was something that might have just ended Sitch Three before it even began, and placed the rest of the mission into limbo.

Wade, no longer humming his happy tune, began feverishly typing at the keyboard, desperate to develop as much information as he could before Kim returned to the room and ask "What's the Sitch, Wade?"

Because at the moment, the sitch was both an unspeakable and unsolvable one, and the young boy knew that Kim would not like that one bit. As he did his best to prepare for her return, he continued to shake his head repeatedly, as two thoughts continued to resurface in his frantic mind. It almost appeared that the Multiverse was somehow alive, in some weird way, and was somehow reacting to Kim's visits to it. But that was impossible, wasn't it?...

********To Be Continued*******

(A/N: So, what exactly is the stinking Sitch? It certainly does not look good on several levels, especially where Felix and Queen Clarion and Future Kim are concerned [Nevada-less Kim doesn't know the fun she's been missing]. And poor Wade can't seem to catch a break either! Well, I'm going to keep this short so that I can quickly move on to doing Chapter 10 and help move this story closer to its conclusion. Either way, you might also want to check out "The Stroke of a Key" by Reader101w which is about to catch up with the First Canon Season (the story has been in work for a while, and is a fascinating read IMHO). The story that starts off with the scared alarm systems salesman NOT typing a K instead of a T, and Team Impossible finally finds out what would have really happened that night if Kim had never been called to save the cuddle buddy collector.[remember the saying "be careful what you wish for?"]. In the meantime, please R&R or send a PM on Chapter 9 or the others; feedback is always greatly appreciated!)

Kim Possible and her friends © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Tinker Bell and her friends in Pixie Hollow © Disney (Tinker Bell created by J. M. Barrie)

Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the others with them © DC Comics

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same. I also don't own the Disney Company in either this or other realities and do respect the rights of each as appropriate within their own reality (i.e. AU Disney companies in KP universes do not own her but still own Mickey Mouse, etc.)


	10. Chapter 10

Story Summary: After almost losing her BFBF to a world that believes she's just an imaginary character, "It's Only a Cartoon"'s Kim Possible decides to confront her greatest challenge, and prepares to engage…..the Multiverse!

Multiversing with Kim

Chapter 10:

Sitch 3 World: Recovery or Rescue?

(aka "Kim and the 'Lost' Sitch")

(A/N: Just 3 minutes after Kim Possible leaves Wade's computer room following her mother's "go-ahead" for a visit to a third alternative reality, Wade observes an unexpected and unprecedented event that threatens Kim's visit to that world and the entire six sitch mission that had been planned. As he tries to react to the surprising event and resolve the problem before Kim returns to his room with her Third Sitch mission gear, he is unaware that he is considering something that Kim has already briefly pondered during her stay in Pixie Hollow: Is the Multiverse somehow reacting to Kim and her activities like a living entity, and what does this foreshadow if Kim continues in her adventures? Is an already fairly serious sitch about to escalate to Mount Everest levels? And can a pre-teen computer genius handle the mounting pressure of a possibly reactive Multiverse while supporting the goals of a red-haired teenage heroine? Please R&R and/or PM. Thanks again in advance for feedback and constructive criticism. I hope you'll all enjoy this installment of Kim Multiversal's great adventure; please read responsibly….)

Kim was smiling broadly as she re-entered Wade's computer room, refreshed and ready for her third mission of the day. That smile vanished instantly when she observed the expression on her young friend's face, and noted the speed with which his fingers were flying across the computer keyboard.

And when Wade then looked at Kim with a mixture of fear and desperation, his eyes already glistening with tears, Kim understood what needed to be done without delay.

Without warning, Kim's balancer self threw Action Girl into Chagrinned Girl's arms with one instruction and one comment: "Hold her there until we're on the other side! This is a no Third Chance Sitch!"

Chagrinned Girl instantly obeyed Balancer, and embraced Action Girl with an unbreakable bear hug, resolved not to loosen that grip by even a little bit until Balancer said so. Action Girl questioned Chagrinned Girl about Balancers surprise action; after all, she was only going to shake Wade 'a little bit' to get him to calm down from whatever was upsetting him so much. CG shook her head sadly; AG had had no idea what harm would have been done had the teenager encroached on Wade's personal space, and CG was happy that Balancer had fully appreciated the danger.

Kim gently and quietly fell to her knees to bring her down to Wade's eye level, and then asked in a whisper level voice: "What's the Sitch, Wade?"

The computer genius did not answer, but instead looked back at the screen and appeared to increase the speed of his already blurring digits.

Did Mom call back, maybe with second thoughts?" whispered the redhead, hoping that she could at least get a word or two out of the clearly frightened pre-teen, and gently and carefully re-open the lines of communications.

"No." Wade responded, his own whispered answer only slightly louder than Kim's inquiry. Kim took some comfort from the fact that her young friend had actually answered at all.

"While I was out of the room, did something happen that caused you some concern about our next sitch or the six sitch mission?" asked Kim again, gently continuing the Q & A session.

"Yes."

"Did you see something that"—

Kim's third question was interrupted as Wade nearly leaped out of his chair into Kim's "open arms" as he started profusely apologizing to the teenager while tightly wrapping his own small arms around her neck (Kim's arms had actually been at her side as she had started her gentle questioning to avoid any possible repeat of that almost disastrous "personal space" incident at the very beginning of the Multiversal Project, but she quickly wrapped them around her "honorary little brother"'s back in response to his invasion of her personal space, instantly understanding that this was necessary to keep him from "losing it" even more that he already had to whatever not-yet-known sour sitch had developed in her absence. Besides, "family" invasion of personal space was completely different from the non-family version, more like BFBF "invasion", but without the potential sexual connotations that sometimes accompanied that unopposed intrusion into her private space).

"I'm sorry, Kim, I'm sorry, Kim, I'm sorry, Kim, I'm sorry, Kim, I'm sorry, Kim, I'm sorry, Kim,"—

In a very strange way, the current drama now playing out was a complete reversal of that original personal space incident, when Kim had been the one apologizing for the unintentional violation, and a forgiving (and recovering) Wade walking over to where Kim had thrown herself to assure her that things were okay despite all indications to the contrary. So now it was Kim returning Wade's hug with her own (her version of "walking back" to him), and she now must give him similar verbal assurances to let him know that things were "all right". The complication and/or difference in the current sitch was that she didn't yet know what Wade was apologizing about or for.

"It's okay, Wade, it's okay, Wade, it's okay, Wade, it's okay, Wade, it's okay, Wade…"

Even as Kim continued repeating her own three words over and over to Wade in response to his three, she realized that she had to be the one to move the dialogue forward, but also realized that extreme care was needed to avoid a mission ending meltdown.

"I'm sorry, Kim, I'm sorry, Kim,"—

"It's okay, Wade, we'll work this sitch out together. Now, Wade, did something happen with the equipment?" Kim asked, keeping her volume at whisper level in the hope that her own calm voice would help her friend also calm down, and enable them to indeed work together to solve said Sitch.

"No, Kim, all the equipment is fine; there's no problem with any of the equipment. In fact, everything was fine until some sort of multi-dimensional distortion ripple moved through our own local region of the Multiverse." Answered Wade, slightly less emotional than he had been just moments before; it appeared that Kim's calming technique was working.

"Wade," Kim started gently, keeping her voice calm and at whisper level, "a multi-dimensional distortion ripple? I know that I might not have been paying full attention at all times while I was getting ready for the Third Sitch, but I think that I would have noticed the ground but moving or room shaking. How big a ripple was it, and how often do these ripples occur?"

"Well, Kim, we would not feel these ripples in our universe at all, no matter what the size." Wade explained, his voice now almost back to its normal self in emotional tone, but still at whisper level. This, of course, made sense since he was still holding Kim around her neck, and his mouth was right next to her left ear.

"Kim, remember our discussions about spaghetti strands and sauce, or violin strings and gelatin, as partial models for the Multiverse's alternate universes and the possible connecting medium between them?"

"Yes, I do, Wade" whispered Kim into Wade's left ear. She was somewhat concerned that a potentially embarrassing moment would be in the offing if Wade's mom was to walk in at this moment. Usually, "whispering sweet nothings" into each other's ears was usually associated with boyfriend/girlfriend moments, and his mom might not truly appreciate that this was simply a big sister/little brother moment. However Kim also realized that a premature separation between big sister and little brother could undo all the calming effect and put the sour Sitch back at square one, and she knew that it would then greatly complicate any further attempt to work things out. She knew she had to remain patient, and hope that Wade's mom would not unintentionally add any drama to what was going on.

Fortunately for Kim (and Wade's mom), the teenager's short and affirmative answer appeared to give Wade what he needed to release his near stranglehold on her neck. Kim responded in kind by loosening her arms a bit as well giving Wade the option to step back a bit and look at her in the eyes, which he did.

"Well, Kim, the ripple moved through the sauce or gelatin, and around the strand or string. We wouldn't feel a thing in any given universe/strand/string, but the doorway connecting any two universes would be affected since the doorway path is through the sauce/gelatin/connecting medium, and anything or anyone passing through the doorway at the time the ripple did might …suffer ….some …serious ….." Wade's voice faded away, and Kim now fully understood both why her friend could not complete that particular sentence and why he looked as he had when she had entered the room. If the ripple had hit just a little earlier, at the time she was returning from Pixie Hollow, Wade might have needed to make a call to Kim's mom that would have been nowhere near as light-hearted as Kim's own had been upon her return from Sitch Two.

"I understand, Wade, and I now see why you were very unhappy when I entered the room. Something unexpected had happened, and you quickly realized several implications stemming from that incident. They impacted both my own safety and the entire six sitch mission we had worked so hard on. You were working very hard to either fix the problem or get enough evidence to convince me to call off or delay the mission. Unfortunately, my quicker than expected return did not grant you the time you needed to do either, and"—

Kim halted in mid-sentence as she recognized a change in Wade's facial expression that appeared to be in response to her saying the word "time". There was at least one more thing that she did not yet know, but it might have something to do with time or timing.

"Wade, what else happened when the ripple passed through our region?" asked Kim, her volume only slightly above the whisper level.

Wade closed his tear-filled eyes and answered in his own "just above whisper" volume.

I thought I was doing a good thing, getting everything ready for you so that you could go as soon as you got back to the room. I had already established a good pre lock on Sitch Three World, and was humming a little tune when the ripple hit. The ripple broke the pre lock I had established, and my system responded by reestablishing the pre lock almost instantaneously with the Sitch Three World. Unfortunately, there was a slight slippage in one of the referenced linkage dimensions…."

"Which referenced linkage dimension, Wade?" Asked the teenage heroine, suspecting that she might already know the answer.

"Time, Kim; the pre lock slipped 15 minutes ahead from its original position. And because of the causality protocol agreement we had regarding this six sitch mission, I can't move it back."

Kim's blood chilled when she heard Wade's answer. "That means I'm over 6 minutes too late." she said looking at the clock and adding the numbers.

"Yes, Kim, she's dead, and it's all because of me!"

Kim noted the rise in Wade's voice, and the increasing tension in his tone as well. Kim had to nip the pending second meltdown in the bud.

"No Wade, the ripple killed her, not you!" Kim responded, her voice very briefly going above "near whisper" before returning to "calm Wade mode" level. "But now at least I understand the rest of what I saw in your face. You've been blaming yourself for something that's not your fault. You can't do that anymore than you could blame yourself if Shego is ever lucky enough to get a direct hit on me and take me down for good during a mission in this universe." Kim concluded her attempt to deal with the un-dealable with a "real-world" sitch that would hopefully ground her young friend long enough for her to get on with her attempt to salvage the possibly unsalvageable sitch they were now in. She could only hope that her tactic would not backfire and raise Wade's tension level the next time he saw a hit on her website that sent her out on a Drakken and Shego mission.

"But, Kim, I"—

"No, Wade, you can't blame yourself for what the ripple did any more than if a meteor was to fall from the sky and take out this entire house. You, I, and your mom would all be dead, but it wouldn't be your fault that it happened. As good as you are, and Wade, you are very good, you do not control everything. Meteor, Shego, ripples through the multiverse; there are some things that nobody really controls, but that we all must deal with the best we can. Rogue events that nobody really expected have to be addressed, but we have to do that only after we accept the fact that we're not responsible for the side effects and aftermaths that they caused. Right, Wade?"

"Yes, Kim, but"—

"No ifs, ands, or buts about it," interrupted Kim. "The ripple event and what it did to the pre lock has turned my rescue mission to a recovery one instead, but it's not your fault. All that we can do now, both you and me, is to let me go there and recover her body before THEY decide to cut her up, and let me return her to her friends in one piece."

"But, Kim, I"—

"Wade, if something did happen to me out there, or in this universe, wouldn't you want someone to bring me home to my family and friends, as intact as possible?

"Yes, Kim, but if another ripple comes along"—

"Then it's like Shego getting lucky, Wade; sometimes bad things happen, and we just have to deal with that possibility. Otherwise, Wade, wouldn't it be better if I just stayed home in Middleton so that Shego never gets lucky?"

"Well, Kim, when you put it that way, I guess"—

"Great, Wade; then we are back on track, sort of. I open the door and go through, retrieve her body, return her to her friends, and then return back here."

"But what of her friends are upset when you return her body? What if they get really upset when they realize WHAT you are and"—

"Then I would tell them about the ripple, and how sorry I was that I could not save her. Don't forget Wade, in all the important ways, her friends are not all that much different from you and me. It will work out. After all, I'm Kim Possible, and I can do anything!"

"But Kim, if you go through the door, and another ripple hits"—

"Then 'Shego' happens, Wade, but it's my fault, not yours, that I did not dodge it in time."

This tactic appeared to be working to calm Wade down, but Kim felt like she should also try adding another line of thought to help bolster this calming effect, possibly helping him to appreciate that even if things were bad, they were not quite as bad as he first thought they were. This plan had definite possibilities to taking the edge off of the sitch, but there was also a definite possibility of a backfire that would worsen the sitch greatly. Kim had to do everything just right the first time.

"Besides, Wade, if this is the first time you've seen a ripple, and you don't know what really caused it, what are the chances of it happening again anytime some?"

"I don't know Kim, and that is what frightens me".

Kim took hope from the fact that Wade was now talking calmly while admitting to his fears. As long as she was able to keep him in that mode of operations, they could probably manage to work things through without a melt-down happening.

"Understood, Wade; until we know what caused it, or what the pattern associated with it is, you can't really make any predictions. But, in the time you had before I returned, were you able to make any headway, even just partial, in understanding this new 'thing' that we now need to study? For example, did you find there were any pre ripple warnings that tie into the one ripple that has hurt us so badly?"

"I'm not fully certain, Kim, but I think I've detected a 1 minute, a 10 minute, and a 20 minute pre ripple micro ripple signal. But without a second ripple to compare with, it is remotely possible that the things I think are pre ripples had nothing to do with the real ripple, and will not permit me to give you any advance warning about another incoming wave."

"Understood, Wade, but at least now there's a possibility that that could be something that might give us advance warning if you see these 20, 10, and 1 minute pre ripples. In the meantime, I'll just have to depend on my anti 'Shego' capabilities to not be using that doorway at the same time a ripple moves through it. And once we do see a second ripple, you might be able to work on a pattern that would help us understand it better and feel better about advance warning. And if we don't see a second ripple, that would tell something about how rare it is; sort of like lightning. After all, lightning is dangerous if it does hit you, but the chances of that hitting you are rather remote."

Pausing for a moment, Kim then had another idea that might help calm things more and give Wade something to work with. At the very least, it would help occupy his mind with something a little more positive.

"Say Wade, how about me giving you a theory about that ripple; it's something that you can start studying while I'm taking care of…my now-recovery Sitch. And it might help us both in better dealing with this whole ripple situation moving forward."

"A theory, Kim?" Wade clearly remembered that some of her theories had had surprising merit to them; Was his teenage friend about to show once again that he was not the only genius on the team?

"Yes. Now, Wade, you said you'd never seen a ripple before, correct?"

"That's right, Kim, I was still in the process of searching when you returned to my room and saw me typing away, but I haven't found any evidence of anything like this ripple ever since I started working on the PDVI for this mission."

"Okay, Wade, we've never seen this ripple before. It's brand new. So what else is brand new, today; something else we've never done before?"

Kim paused for a moment before continuing; she knew she had to be very cautious in the way she presented it to her friend.

"Today is the first day I stepped through a doorway after opening it. Wade, is it remotely possible that this ripple is simply a delayed echo of that first door opening, and/or of me actually stepping through that opened door?"

"I suppose, Kim, that could be. But that would almost mean that the multiverse was almost alive in some way. I know that that thought was popping into my head more than once while I was trying to work this whole thing after that ripple event, but I thought you might think me a little crazy if I mentioned it to you."

"Well, Wade, I don't know how to say this without you maybe thinking that I'm a little crazy, too, but I also had some thoughts about whether the multiverse was alive in some strange way and reacting to my presence, or my decision to engage it as part of my 'save Ron' scheme while I was in Pixie Hollow, waiting for Queen Clarion to arrive."

"You, too, Kim? Well maybe we are both crazy and we both deserve some straitjackets, but at least your theory would give me something to work with. But one thing, Kim."

"Yes, Wade, what is it?"

"I have opened doorways before, as part of testing before today's start of mission. I would not have allowed you to go out there without first checking out the doorway mechanism and reassuring myself as to safety concerns. So, you may have been the first person to go through the doorway, but I have been opening the door, so to speak, for about two weeks."

"Yes, Wade, but did you ever send an object as big as me through the door? Didn't you restrict yourself to small objects like naked mole rats and squirrels, plants, boxes, and books during your pre mission testing? Isn't it possible that I exceeded some sort of weight or size limit that then triggered the ripple effect?"

"Well, Kim, I'm not your boyfriend, but even I know I shouldn't be saying anything about a weight or a size limit regarding you."

Kim smiled in response and chuckled. "Understood, honorary little brother. It's just unfortunate that my own little brother's don't give me the same consideration". Despite the sadness of the lost Sitch, Kim took comfort in knowing that Wade had recovered at least enough to begin making some half-jokes.

Kim then became slightly more serious, adding "But isn't it possible that this is a nonlinear response to objects going through the doorway and that we are seeing an echo from having exceeded some sort of trigger level?"

"I suppose, Kim, that it could be that, and if I look very carefully for very low level ripples I might see that's exactly what has been happening. If that's the case"—

"Then maybe we can predict when the next wave will be coming through and take appropriate action regarding it; like not going through it at the same time." concluded Kim, more confident now that working on that theory would keep him busy and keep his mind off things that could not help anyone at this time.

"Yes, Kim, but I'm still a little concerned about"—

"I know, Wade, but please let me be the one to worry about 'Shego' getting lucky, at least until you have more evidence regarding this ripple stuff. We both know that that will give you a lot of incentive to help bring this thing out real quickly by checking out the theories and by proving or disproving them."

"Okay Kim, but please be very careful to make sure 'Shego' doesn't get lucky before I figure this all out."

"I'm on it, Wade!" Kim answered, and without further ado or debate, the teenager rose up, turned to the far end of the room, and lifted up her MK and pressed the button to open the doorway.

It did so without incident or fanfare, and with her MK unit confirming an 11-dimensional lock, Kim raced through the doorway before either Wade or another ripple could stop her.

Wade quickly returned back to his chair and the computer screen to begin watching her on the viewer, as he also began to furiously type on the keypads again in an effort to prove or disprove her theory and possibly predict when the next ripple would come through. He knew he would feel much better when he had that in his hands, his tiny and not-yet-worthy hands. His eyes continued to glisten, but they no longer leaked tears, and his face showed only concern and determination, with no trace of the desperation and fear that he had expressed only a few minutes before.

Kim had certainly succeeded in defusing a very serious problem, and getting the young computer genius back on track, at least for now. Unfortunately it was not as certain as to what might happen to him or the mission should have another problem arise and Kim was not there to talk him through it.

Kim emerged from the light doorway with a speed that exceeded her Sitch One World entry, but she quickly found that the ground truth of this newest reality, unlike the first AU, would not support rapid ground level travel for long. Her newest battlefield was strewn with rubble of diverse shapes and sizes, and even her mad cheerleader moves could only compensate so much for the terrible terrain she now faced.

Tears flowed from her eyes as she surveyed the area and got a firsthand look at the hopelessness of this particular Sitch. The time slip itself was bad enough, but it was also the time that Kim had had to take to work things out with her junior partner, and somehow keep him from becoming a basket case as well. She realized she could have done it no faster than she'd done it, but those minutes added to the unlikelihood that there was anything that she could do to save the Sitch at this point.

She was now very very late, well behind schedule, and could clearly see the near-certainty of an epic mission sitch failure if she didn't somehow figure out how to adjust and make up for the time already lost. What could be done to turn things around and get her to where she now needed to be in time to save a desperate and endangered female being pursued by a nearly unstoppable foe?

Her Multiversal Kimmunicator was in OmniScan mode. Kim could clearly see all the major players in this seriously lost Sitch.

Herself, desperately trying to think of some way to save this majorly messed up Sitch.

Her target, already too far away due to the time slippage.

Her target's Foe, already way too close to the target, and also too far away from Kim.

Four of her target's friends, moving towards the target and the Foe, but also too far away to do any good in the time remaining to the target before the Foe finally finished her off.

Allies of the Foe, apparently unwilling to move towards the battle scene until the Foe had finished off the target. In this instance, THEY were unwilling to get their hands dirty or risk their own necks by confronting the target directly.

Another friend of the target, hovering in midair, apparently observing the battlefield and possibly giving advice or guidance to the four other would-be rescuers.

And finally, just now coming within range of the OmniScan, a possible fifth friend of the target on the ground. The MK seem to be reading it as alternately solid and then not so solid as it apparently was rapidly catching up the group of four. Kim quickly realized that this continuous shifting of the readings for this one particular moving item was because the person was being tracked could phase through matter and effectively run through walls without injury. But the advantages conferred by this ability were not enough to refute the fact that this person also would be far too late to save the target.

So it was "Game Over" before it even started, and the rescue mission was now just a recovery mission. It was just so sad; Kim always liked rescues more than recoveries. And she had so wanted to rescue her target in this alternate universe and get her to a safe place away from lethal conflict, and return her to her friends alive and well.

But facts don't lie, and it was perfectly clear that saving the sitch wasn't in the cards. Too much time had been lost, she was too far away from the target and her Foe, the foe was already too close to the target, and the rubble and general wreckage precluded her sprinting to the rescue techniques that had saved so many back on her home world, including her boyfriend and even herself. Of course, with sufficient resources of her home world at her command, it was remotely possible to save the sitch even at this late date, but she had access to only the resources that she carried on her person or in her Third Sitch Mission Backpack. And there was no GJ hoverjet, no Team Go, no Gigawatt Pulse Rifle, or Justice League Teleporter in that backpack. She was just an average girl who occasionally saved her world, not a superhero or a starship captain. And her options were extremely limited at this point.

It was clearly hopeless. It was clearly impossible. Yes, indeed, a real "Mission Impossible"!

Impossible? Uh, did someone forget to check her name?...You know, Kim Possible? Bodacious cheerleader, straight A student, a really "all that" girl? A girlfriend who could be so arrogant in her mission mode and confident in her Kimness and her abilities that she successfully rescued her boyfriend from a world that thought she was only a cartoon and despite the fact that her computer genius friend later determined that the rescue should have been impossible?

Kim smiled, even as her tears continued to flow freely. Glancing at the MK OmniScan one last time to burn the image into her memory, she shoved the MK into her cargo pants leg pocket, and began sprinting in a direction that was NOT towards her target, but nearly 90 degrees off course.

Even in this less rubble filled direction, Kimberly could not maintain her Olympic level speed for very long, and quickly had to change into a tumbling motion at times to maintain her forward progress, switching back to sprinting for a few moments, then switching again to a combination handstand and forward flip, followed by a hop, skip, and a jump, another quick sprint across a 45° angle wall, pole vault over another piece of rubble using a broken pipe she had just grabbed, followed by a 50 second sprint that would have tied an Olympic record if anyone had been there to observe it.

Of course, someone did observe it, but it was not an Olympic official. It was a young black woman hovering in the air some distance away from Kim's original arrival point. She was surprised by the appearance of the teenager in an area that should have been off limits to all but her friends and the foe that currently threatened one of them.

Kim's sprint was then followed by another series of cheerleader moves combined with martial art techniques as she tried to get through another rubble field in the minimum amount of time. After that it was another pole vault this time using a broken flagpole that was handy, another hop, skip, and jump, another handstand forward flip followed by a cartwheel, followed by yet another sprint of about 20 seconds, three more cartwheels, followed by a 40 second sprint to a 60° inclined wall. Optimistically using a broken clothesline that barely held her weight, she scaled the wall, leapt over the gap between it and another collapsed wall, and then ran down the second wall at an incline of 30°. She then leapt over an abandoned trench, and then sprinted for yet another 50 seconds.

She appeared to be making very good time indeed in her travels, but not without some costs. Her mission clothing looked very roughed up to now, and appeared that she had developed some scratches where her mission clothing had proved to be inadequate to fully protect her. She was now sweating profusely and the combination of the smoke in the air and the dust and dirt on the ground had turned her clean and neat face into one grime-filled mess. And her continuous use of nearly 120% of her normal abilities was rapidly depleting even her unusually large energy reserves. She would soon have to stop or wind up collapsing in mid stride.

And she was now even farther away from her target than what she'd started running. The airborne observer could not make any sense of what the young redheaded woman appeared to be doing. That confusion, however, would not last for long.

Just before the teenage heroine would have been forced to stop moving and try to catch her breath anyway, she grabbed her grappling gun, pointed it nearly straight up, and fired it into the air. As her first now labored breaths attempted to restore a balance in the body chemistry, Kim pressed the retraction button on the grappling gun to lift her and her backpack rapidly into the air following her confirming that the grappling hook had engaged its target.

As she rose rapidly towards the top of a devastated power tower, Kim was able now see a bird's eye view of the battlefield that she had found herself thrown into. Although she could not yet see the target, she could clearly see its foe. And although its back was turned to her, Kim clearly perceived that there was nothing her target could do to stop it from fulfilling its mission. Only Kim herself had the remotest chance of stopping the foe, but she was far too far away to do it. She had to get a lot closer, and she had to do that as quickly as possible.

Reaching the top of the tower, she unhooked her grapple-gun hook from the tower itself, and placed the grapple-gun back into her mission belt holder.

Her breathing a bit less labored now, Kim then pulled out which she now needed. It was a single semicircle hook with a handle attached to it. When Kim grabbed the handle and held a tightly with her right hand, it appeared almost as if she was auditioning for the role of Captain Hook in "Peter Pan". However, instead of threatening Peter or Tinker Bell (certainly not after Pixie Hollow!), she slung the hook over the dead cabling that had once carried a large amount of power at a high voltage and began to slide down it at ever increasing speeds. She was soon moving faster than she could have moved on her own, and she now was moving towards both the target and the Foe. The question, however, remained: could she get there fast enough to do any good?

Speeding across the rubble beneath her, Kim realized she had to be very careful at the end of the line to avoid being injured either by landing in the rubble incorrectly or running into the steel girder that was still attached to the insulator for the now-dead power line despite the fact that the girder itself was now at ground level. Of course, she also had to make sure that a safe departure from her current mode of transportation did not slow her down; she still had too much time to make up!

As she swung left and right in preparation to avoid wreckage that came just short of the wire itself and effectively blocked her straight-through path to the wire's end, Kim developed an idea that might just solve both problems at once.

As she successfully avoided the blocking wreckage by timing herself so that she was swinging right at just the right moment to breeze by the blockage without injury, Kim pulled out the grappling gun with her left hand and prepared to fire it at the very top of a telephone pole that had lost its wires, but was otherwise still standing almost straight up. From Kim's vantage point, it appeared to be leaning slightly to the left, and was actually slightly to the left of her current path of travel. When she had traveled three quarters of the way from the top of the first tower to the bottom of the second collapsed one, she swiftly aimed and fired the grappling hook up towards the top of the telephone pole. At the almost exact moment the grappling look made contact with the pole, Kim pressed the retraction button on the gun to pull her towards the telephone pole at the exact moment she also pulled herself up with her right hand. She then almost instantly extended her right arm to lift the hook up off the wire and swing the hook to her right to avoid any chance of her being torn apart as the grappling hook wire retraction pulled her towards the telephone poll. She managed to do this successfully only by nearly inhumanly perfect timing with both actions as well as properly using her own body's inertia to permit the hook dismount without catastrophic effects. It was indeed somewhat similar to the magician's trick with a tablecloth covered by a platter of fragile crystal glasses, with the expert magician pulling on the tablecloth so hard and fast that the platter has no time to react and remains stationary even as the tablecloth leaves the table entirely. Of course, in that example, only the platter and the glasses were at risk, not a redheaded teenager and her rescue target.

Kim halted the grapple hook retraction when it was only 9/10 done, so that she could again use her current speed and the inertia of her body to safely swing pass the tilted telephone pole and successfully reach an actual stopping point: the top of the one story building that had remarkably remained partially standing. The moment she had reached that safety point at a speed slow enough for her to safely stop without injury, she pressed a reverse retraction button on her grapple-gun to pay out some slack on the grapple line, and then with a quick twist of her wrist, sent a transverse wave out towards the telephone pole to cause the grappling hook itself to free itself and drop off the telephone pole, ready for reuse.

Once again using her impeccable timing, Kim pressed the retraction button to pick up the slack and once again pulling the grappling hook towards her, then stopped the retraction as she then moved her hand and the gun as if she was using it as a fishing pole to cast the grappling hook as if to catch a fish. She followed that up with again pressing the reverse retraction button to again pay out the grappling line so that the hook, with the inertia it had received by Kim's "fishing pole casting", could freely continue on to its next destination, the roof of a three-story building that was also still standing in the middle of the otherwise almost continuous wreckage field.

Kim jumped off the one story building as she pushed the retraction button yet again to swing halfway between the one and three story building before she pressed the reverse retraction button and allowed herself to touch ground level once again.

Once again sprinting off at maximum speed to run around the building, she again performed the necessary transverse waving of the grapple line to dislodge the hook off the building, followed immediately by pressing the retraction button to retract the grappling hook (all the way back in this time!) into Kim's grapple-gun.

Not fully rested up from her original exertions, Kim was soon back in her heavy breathing and sweating mode, as she raced to her next grappling hook opportunity. She obtained only momentary respite as she briefly had to slow down her speed to maneuver around some boulders, and then do some tumbling to get over some unintentional hurdles placed in her way.

She then had to run and hop back and forth between two nearly parallel partially toppled walls to quickly negotiate the remaining distance between her and her grapple-gun firing point. Her maneuvering reminded her a little bit of the last time she and Ron had had to maneuver themselves around Drakken and Shego as both Drakken's doomsday machine and timeshare lair started to self destruct at the same time. Ron had thought it was like a Pre-K hop, skip, and jump game and had even said it was even cooler than mummy mayhem.

Kim briefly smiled at those memories, but quickly returned to full mission mode again as she jumped off the last portion of the wall and started sprinting again towards the nearest still standing power tower. Once again, as she reached her firing point, Kim truly felt she was almost at the point of collapse and rest time, but managed to yet again hold on until the retraction button was pressed and she felt herself again ascending quickly into the sky, briefly resting as the retraction gun did all the work.

However, even the extremely physical fit teenager had human limits, and as she reached the top of the power, she realized that she not fully regained as much of her reserves as she had with the first tower. She clearly could not keep this up for much longer, but she smiled with breathless relief as she realized that she had reached her last leg of the obstacle course. She would now need only to slide down this last wire to the ground surface, and then super-sprint another 100 yards to catch up with her Foe and her target.

But time indeed was running out, and Kim realized that her recovery/rescue target was undoubtedly exhausted and was in no shape to fight any longer against its Foe. Would she be able to make it there in time, and save her target before was too late?

At the top of the final tower, Kim once again became Captain Hook, and started sliding down the last run of unpowered electrical wire. However, because this time there was no convenient telephone pole to allow her to do a much gentler dismount, Kim instead had to twist her hook in such a way as to help reduce her speed so she could jump off without injury by repeating the "tablecloth maneuver" she had performed a little earlier.

As she hit the ground running to begin the final sprint, Kim once again pushed herself to her own ultimate limits, and then tried pushing herself even further ("That's Impossible!...Uhh, check the name?..."). As she once again pushed her ultimate Kimness to overload and even melt-down, she realized that she was indeed tearing herself apart, and as the cliché noted, she would "definitely feel it in the morning".

Yes, she realized it, but she did not care in the least. If she was able to save the target, she knew that she could easily deal with the pain and suffering the next day; if she failed to save the target, she would never be able to deal with feeling anything less than absolute agony the "morning after".

Her breathing was forced, her exhaustion complete, and she was still 10 yards short of the optimum point when she heard the Foe's voice began its final targeting announcement to the now helpless person collapsed on the ground in front of it.

Time had run out, and the target was about to be terminated; Kim had to act now without further delay.

She had already returned her grappling gun and hook to their positions in her belt while sprinting. She pulled out the MK from her pants pocket with her right hand, holding it tightly, as her left hand moved up and slapped her torso just below her chest to activate a very special trigger device.

As with its close relatives built by Wade for, her special Sitch Three jet backpack quickly placed a safety helmet on her head as it also quickly deployed its wings, followed by a speedy activation of its rocket-jets. She now had a lot more power lifting her up than a simple retraction mechanism on her grapple-gun, and she rapidly moved towards her goal of stopping the target's Foe.

And rapid movement was indeed vitally essential; time had indeed truly run out, and the unstoppable object was about to level its death-dealing weapon at its now completely helpless target.

Had she arrived in the nick of time, or had she actually still failed by the narrowest of margins?

Recovery, or rescue? That question had yet to be answered, but it would be answered very soon.

Life, or death? Zero, one, or two fatalities? Those questions also had yet to be answered, but they also would be answered very soon. Answered within the interval of the intake of a human breath, or the beat of a human heart.

And after those questions were answered, what then? What, if anything, could the cheerleader from another reality do after those other questions were finally answered.

Yet another important question, whose answer would impact not just this world, but at least 4 others beyond it…

********To Be Continued*******

(A/N: Well, I've again left the reader at yet another cliff-hanger, with questions asked and not answered. However, fear not, good reader, the answers to all these questions and more lie in Chapter 11, which I will endeavor to present in a timely fashion [please note emphasis on the word "endeavor"]. In the meantime, please post a review or send me a PM, I will respond to both as soon as possible, and I really do appreciate reader feedback. In addition, if you haven't already done so, please check out the other stories I've presented, and let me know what you think about them as well.)

General and Specific Disclaimers: I own nothing but my own imagination, and I do not own either the television series or movie franchise associated with the iconic phrase of "Mission Impossible" used in this chapter (in fact, I still don't buy the "Benedict Arnold"ing of Jim Phelps [why, yes, I am rather pro-Peter Graves; why do you ask?], but I do accept that those who do own the characters can savage them all they want).

Kim Possible and her friends © Disney (created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle)

Tinker Bell and her friends in Pixie Hollow © Disney (Tinker Bell created by J. M. Barrie)

Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the others with them © DC Comics

Additional Disclaimer: I, like whitem, do not own either Wal-Mart or WalMart or any similarly named organization; and the actual owners retain all rights, etc., regarding same. I also don't own the Disney Company in either this or other realities and do respect the rights of each as appropriate within their own reality (i.e. AU Disney companies in KP universes do not own her but still own Mickey Mouse, etc.)


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